the country's deadliest storms. Typhoon Kalmaegi is on a collision course with Leyte island, bringing 120-kilometre (75-mile) per hour winds and gusts of up to 150 kph, according to the national weather service.  "Evacuations are ongoing in Palo and Tanauan," said Leyte disaster official Roel Montesa, naming two of the towns hardest hit by storm surges in 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people. Thousands of residents have also been evacuated since Sunday on neighbouring Samar island, where three-metre (10-foot) surges are predicted, according to civil defence official Randy Nicart. "Some local governments are resorting to forced evacuations, including Guiuan town, where the storm is likely to make landfall," he said. The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty. With Kalmaegi, the archipelago country has already reached that average, state weather service specialist Charmaine Varilla told AFP, adding that at least "three to five more" storms could be expected by December's end. (Bssnews)