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Manila (AFP)
Super Typhoon Fung-wong slammed into the Philippines' eastern seaboard on Sunday, the national weather service said, after killing at least two people and forcing more than a million to evacuate their homes.
The storm, with a radius spanning nearly the whole of the Philippines, made landfall in Aurora province on the main island of Luzon at 9:10 pm (1310 GMT), the state forecaster reported, only days after another typhoon ravaged the country.
Further north, in Cagayan province, the occupants of an evacuation centre told AFP that fear of flooding had convinced them to leave their homes.
Schools and government offices have been ordered closed on Monday across the main island of Luzon, including the capital Manila where nearly 300 flights have been cancelled.
Earlier on Sunday, Catanduanes was already being lashed by wind and rain, with storm surges sending waves hurtling over streets and floodwaters rising in some areas.
"As we speak, they are feeling the impact of the typhoon, especially in Catanduanes, because the storm's eye is closest there," civil defence deputy administrator Rafaelito Alejandro said at a news briefing.
"The waves started roaring around 7:00 am. When the waves hit the seawall, it felt like the ground was shaking," Edson Casarino, 33, a resident of Catanduanes' Virac town, told AFP.
Video verified by AFP showed a church in the town surrounded by floodwaters that reached halfway up its entrance.
Flooding was also reported in southern Luzon's Bicol region, according to Alejandro, who later confirmed the preemptive evacuation of nearly 1.2 million people nationwide.
In Guinobatan, a town of about 80,000 in the region's Albay province, verified video showed streets transformed into a raging torrent of floodwaters.
Typhoon Fung-wong is expected to bring at least 200 millimetres (eight inches) of rain to many parts of the country, according to government meteorologists.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful due to climate change. Warmer oceans allow typhoons to strengthen rapidly, and a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, meaning heavier rainfall.
'Strapping down the roofs'
On Saturday, Catanduanes rushed to prepare for the onslaught, with residents tying down their houses with ropes and putting weights on their roofs.
"They decided to do our tradition of strapping down the roofs with big ropes and anchoring them on the ground, so they won't be blown away by the wind," provincial rescue official Roberto Monterola told AFP.
In Sorsogon, a city in southern Luzon, some sought refuge in a church.
Only days earlier, Typhoon Kalmaegi sent floodwaters rushing through the towns and cities of Cebu and Negros islands, killing at least 224 people and leaving 109 missing, according to government figures updated Sunday morning.
Search and rescue efforts in Cebu were suspended on Saturday due to safety concerns over the approaching super typhoon.
