Sunshine Lichauco de Leon and Jane Onyanga-Omara

USA TODAY

MANILA — Typhoon Hagupit weakened into a tropical storm Monday after leaving 22 people dead and destroying more than 1,500 homes.

The storm, known locally as Ruby, is expected to bring heavy rains as it passes close to the capital Manila, which has a population of more than 12 million, on Monday night.

More than a million people fled to emergency shelters and to safer ground before Hagupit, or "smash" in Filipino, made landfall in Eastern Samar late Saturday. On Monday, officials said about 260,000 families were in evacuation centers.

As of Monday night, the death toll had risen to 22 people. Nineteen died in Samar, the Philippine Red Cross said. The other three deaths were in Iloilo, in the Western Visayas region.

The storm comes 13 months after Super Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the island nation, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing.

Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon said 16 of those who died in Samar drowned in raging flood waters. He speculated that the victims had not taken refuge in the evacuation centers when the storm hit.

He said he was not surprised at the level of damage in Samar.

"If you look at the map it's the farthest-most island in the archipelago in the Pacific Ocean and it's where the storm first landed — like Tacloban was in Haiyan," Gordon said.

"The winds were really strong when they hit — the only thing missing was the deadly storm surge."

Masbate, where Hagupit made its second landfall, fared much better.

"They had just a little flooding which subsided soon," Gordon said. "There are no reports of casualties or destruction."

Although the typhoon seems to be lessening in strength, Gordon remains cautiously optimistic.

"I don't want to say the worst is over yet," he said. "The weather is very fickle."

The BBC reported Monday that thousands of people were heading home. Schools, government offices and stock markets closed as the storm approached Manila.

While the worst was over in central island provinces, Manila and outlying provinces braced as the storm blew nearer, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and gusts of 84 mph. Forecasters said the storm was expected to slam into a Batangas provincial town about 68 miles south of Manila by nightfall.

Although considerably weaker from its peak power, the storm remains dangerous and could still whip storm surges that could overwhelm coastal villages, officials said.

While officials expressed relief that the storm had not caused major damage, they warned that Hagupit was still on course to barrel into the southern tip of the main northern island of Luzon where Manila is located, before starting to blow away Tuesday into the South China Sea.

Speaking from an evacuation center in the city of Legazpi, Pilar Rangosajo told CNN: "I am worried — I am thinking of my children and my grandchildren. They are so young, that's why we're here.

"It's so hard for me because every typhoon damages our home. We don't have the money to fix it."

Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said more than 5,000 people living in a shantytown on the edge of Manila Bay have been evacuated due to possible storm surges.

"We've prepared and trained for this," he told the Associated Press. He said his greatest fear was widespread flooding.

Contributing: Teresa Cerojano, Associated Press