Typhoon sweeps through Philippines

Typhoon Hagupit swept through the eastern Philippines on Saturday, bringing about strong winds and torrents of rain that destroyed trees, roofs and power lines. No casualties have been confirmed as of yet.

Around a million people living in low-lying villages and landslide-prone areas  had already evacuated their homes to makeshift shelters on Friday and Saturday, one of the world’s largest peacetime evacuations according to a UN agency.

"We received reports about a million people evacuating already. There is increased awareness to make early action and co-operate and do pre-emptive evacuation," Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, said.

The storm caused power to be cut across most of the central island of Samar and the nearby Leyte province. The eye of the typhoon hit the town of Dolores, Eastern Samar at 9:15pm on Saturday, Philippine weather agency PAGASA said. From there, it moved towards the Masbate, Romblon and Oriental Mindoro provinces, close to areas ravaged by super typhoon Haiyan last year. The storm is unlikely to strike the Philippine capital of Manila, home to 12 million people, the agency said.  

"Ruby's lashing will be severe," Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas told government radio, referring to the typhoon. "Let's be alert. Let's evacuate to prevent any harm to your families."

Hagupit had earlier been classified as a category 5 “super typhoon” but weakened by two notches before it struck land. Yet PAGASA warned that it could still cause huge destruction with potential storm surges of up to 4.5 metres.

Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific had cancelled around 100 flights to central and southern Philippines on Saturday, leaving passengers stranded at airports. Soldiers have been deployed to urban areas, particularly in Tacloban City, to prevent looting incidents as had occurred after Haiyan. The United States have offered to send nine C-130 transport aircraft, three P-3C Orion, as well as medical and relief workers to the Philippines, said Major Emmanuel Garcia, commander of the US Armed Forces’ 7th civil relations group. He added that other foreign governments are also ready to send aid.