People living along the coast of the central Philippine city of Borongan—predicted to be in the bull's-eye for the typhoon expected to make landfall as early as Saturday—packed into shelters seeking safety on Friday.

“We didn’t need to convince them,” Borongan City Mayor Maria Fe Abunda told The Wall Street Journal.

“People are aware of what is going on, especially after what happened last year with Haiyan. They’re voluntarily coming to the evacuation centers,” she added.

Weather authorities are predicting Typhoon Hagupit will first make landfall late Saturday or early Sunday in Borongan, a city of 65,000 facing east to the Pacific Ocean.

Hagupit isn’t expected to arrive with as powerful of winds as Haiyan, which hammered the midsection of the Philippines last year, killing more than 6,300 and causing $12 billion in damage. But weather experts warned Hagupit has slowed, meaning it potentially could stay over land longer, giving it more opportunity to do damage.