A cyclone causes floods and flight cancellations as it passes through the north of the Philippines

Manila.- A tropical depression accompanied by winds of up to 90 kilometers per hour caused flooding in the Philippine capital and other parts of the north of the country this Friday and forced to cancel almost a dozen flights. The storm, locally known as Isang, hit the northern province of Aurora around 9:50 local time (1:50 GMT), according to the Philippine Meteorological Agency (PAGASA), just hours after gaining strength east of the archipelago and becoming a tropical depression.

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The cyclone had sustained winds of up to 55 kilometers per hour and gusts of 90 km/h and forced authorities to put several northern provinces on alert due to the possibility of flooding and strong winds. It will cross throughout the day the northern island of Luzon, the largest and most populated of the archipelago, before emerging to the west of the country and advancing through the South China Sea towards the Chinese province of Hainan. "Isang is forecast to intensify into a tropical storm tomorrow morning and may reach the severe tropical storm category as it approaches the waters south of Hainan," said the Philippine meteorological office. The cyclone caused flooding in parts of the capital, affecting traffic and forcing commuters to venture through the streets with water above their knees, as well as forcing the cancellation of at least nine flights, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). This new cyclone hits the archipelago just a month after three consecutive storms left at least 25 dead, as well as causing numerous floods in parts of the country, including the capital. The extent of the damage and the lack of effectiveness of existing flood control projects, some of which appear as completed on paper but non-existent or of very poor quality on the ground, have triggered a Senate investigation for possible corruption amid the outrage of the president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Philippines suffers about twenty typhoons and tropical storms per year, especially during the rainy season, which usually begins in June and ends in November or December.