Mangkhut
Super Typhoon Mangkhut aims for the Philippines. (Map courtesy of Global Disaster and Alert Coordination System)
While United Methodists in the United States anxiously awaited the arrival of Hurricane Florence, their counterparts in the Philippines were preparing for the arrival of Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which the New York Times reported as having "150-mile-an-hour winds."
Weather forecasters predicted that Mangkhut would hit Luzon, the Philippines largest and most populated island, sometime on Thursday. Luzon is the location of most of the Philippines grain farming, including corn and rice. Farmers were directed by the government to harvest as much grain as possible before Mangkhut -- classed as a Category 5 storm, the most destructive ranking -- struck the land of 7,000 islands.
The New York Times reported: "Officials warned that Super Typhoon Mangkhut carried the intensity of Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which killed more than 6,000 people. But as of Thursday, Mangkhut was on track to hit less densely populated areas.
The Times continued: "The danger underlined how vulnerable the Philippines has become to climate disruptions because of its location at the crossroads of the Pacific, making it subject to increasingly frequent and powerful typhoons."
The Philippines has been battered by severe storms in recent years. The New York Times reported the island nation was "reeling from a series of typhoons that destroyed crops, livestock and fisheries." The storms have serious damaged farming in the Philippines, with farmers demanding assistance from the federal government as a result. The United Methodist Church in the Philippines provided shelter and food for the farmers, many of whom were reported near starvation.