Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos began to return to their homes battered by a powerful typhoon at the weekend, but the nation collectively breathed a sigh of relief as a massive evacuation plan appeared to minimize fatalities.

The death toll from typhoon Hagupit stood at four on Monday, as over a million people escaped the wrath of the category-3 storm in evacuation centres across the centre of the country, although hundreds of homes were flattened.

A year after a category-5 super-storm travelling roughly the same path left more than 7,000 people dead or missing in the Philippines, authorities took no chances and evacuated entire towns and villages into over 1,500 evacuation centres on Friday and Saturday.

"We're happy that we've learned our lessons from our past experiences. This is a good sign," said Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross.

Delia Monleon, mayor of Jipapad, a town of 7,000 people in Eastern Samar province, said flood waters were still preventing people from getting to their homes.

"Our problem is power, food is a problem because boats cannot leave," said Monleon. "It was flooded yesterday so we can't leave to look for food," she said.

Hagupit was crawling west at 10 km/h from central Romblon islands towards Oriental Mindoro province on Monday, with winds of up to 120 km/h near the centre and gusts of up to 150 km/h, the PAGASA weather bureau said.

"They were extremely proactive in preparing for the typhoon," said Sean Ng, director of programs with World Vision Philippines, speaking to CBC News from Tacloban City.

The Canadian government is prepared to help victims of the storm, Finance Minister Joe Oliver told reporters in Toronto on Saturday. Ottawa has so far given $100,000 to the disaster relief group GlobalMedic for Philippine aid.

Waited in fear

"The potential area and force of impact are still uncertain, but Canada stands ready to support the Philippines if and when the need arises," he said.

Rhea Estuna, a 29-year-old mother of one, fled Thursday to an evacuation centre in Tacloban — the city hardest-hit by Haiyan — and waited in fear as Hagupit's wind and rain lashed the school where she and her family sought refuge. When she peered outside Sunday, she said she saw a starkly different aftermath than the one she witnessed after Haiyan struck in November 2013.

"There were no bodies scattered on the road, no big mounds of debris," Estuna told The Associated Press by cellphone. "Thanks to God this typhoon wasn't as violent."

Haiyan's tsunami-like storm surges and killer winds left thousands of people dead and levelled entire villages, most of them in and around Tacloban.

Nearly a dozen countries, led by the United States and the European Union, have pledged to help in case of a catastrophe from Hagupit, disaster-response agency chief Alexander Pama said.

The EU commissioner for humanitarian aid, Christos Stylianides, said a team of experts would be deployed to help assess the damage and needed response.

"The Philippines are not alone as they brace up for a possible hardship," Stylianides said, adding that the European Commission was "hoping that the impact will be less powerful than a year ago, when Typhoon Haiyan left a devastating imprint on the country."