(Bloomberg) -- Two separate storms are set to hit the Philippines and Taiwan at the weekend as the western Pacific Ocean sees its most storm-active November in more than seven decades.
Storm Usagi and Typhoon Man-yi are the latest in a string of powerful systems to affect the region this year. The succession of tropical cyclones has weighed on third-quarter growth in the Philippines and caused at least $220 million of crop losses in the country this year, while Taiwan was forced to suspend trading on its stock exchange on three occasions — the first time that’s happened since 2015.
Usagi, which struck the northern Philippines on Thursday, is currently churning in the Luzon Strait and tracking northeastward toward Taiwan. It has top sustained winds of 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour, according to the island’s weather bureau.
The system is forecast to make landfall on Taiwan’s southwestern shore on Saturday, hitting near the major shipping and industrial hub of Kaohsiung. However, it has weakened into a severe tropical storm, and Taiwan’s weather bureau said it may lift sea and land typhoon warnings by Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Philippines is bracing for its sixth powerful storm in three weeks as Typhoon Man-yi, known locally as Pepito, gathers strength and threatens to hit central or southern Luzon on Sunday, the agency said. Man-yi could further strengthen to a super typhoon and hit the main island at peak intensity, the agency said.
--With assistance from Miaojung Lin and Cecilia Yap.
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