A house is engulfed by the storm surge brought about by powerful typhoon Haiyan that hit Legazpi city, Albay province. Credit:AP Millions of people have been forced to move to high ground and storm shelters in 20 provinces as typhoon Haiyan lashed the islands of Leyte and Samar.



Due to cut-off communications, it was impossible to know the full extent of casualties and damage. At least two people were electrocuted in storm-related accidents, one person was killed by a fallen tree and another was struck by lightning, official reports said.



Southern Leyte Gov. Roger Mercado said the typhoon triggered landslides that blocked roads, uprooted trees and ripped roofs off houses around his residence.



The dense clouds and heavy rains made the day seem almost as dark as night, he said.



"When you're faced with such a scenario, you can only pray, and pray and pray," Mercado told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that mayors in the province had not called in to report any major damage.



"I hope that means they were spared and not the other way around," he said. "My worst fear is there will be massive loss of lives and property." Super Typhoon Haiyan smashed into coastal communities on the central island of Samar, about 600 kilometres south-east of Manila, before dawn on Friday with maximum sustained winds of about 315 kilometres an hour. ''We've had reports of uprooted trees, very strong winds ... and houses made of light materials being damaged,'' Philippine Red Cross chief Gwendolyn Pang said on Friday afternoon as Haiyan swept across the archipelago's central and southern islands.

Waves pounding the sea wall during the super storm. Credit:AFP The death toll was expected to rise, with authorities unable to immediately contact the worst-affected areas and Haiyan only expected to leave the Philippines in the evening. Philippine president Benigno Aquino warned Filipinos they face calamity and urged people in the path of the giant storm to make all possible precautions. Haiyan is seen approaching the Philippines in this Japan Meteorological Agency handout image taken on Thursday. Credit:Reuters/Japan Meteorological Agency The maximum category-five level typhoon cut power lines and phone lines and grounded air and sea transport. Officials said it was too early to know the extent of damage.

Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, passed just north of Cebu, the country’s second largest city where 2.5 million people live. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Services Administration said the storm was generating winds of 235km/h and gusts of 275km/h. Earlier it was reported that the typhoon was generating winds of 313km/h and gusts of 378km/h, according to the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre. That would have made Haiyan the strongest storm since Super Typhoon Tip in 1979. Haiyan was expected to hit Samar island, about 600km south-east of Manila, then cut across the central and southern Philippines before exiting into the South China Sea late on Saturday.

Authorities warned more than 12 million people were at risk from Typhoon Haiyan. Survivors of a deadly earthquake fled their tent shelters as the typhoon's approach triggered evacuations, shut schools and cancelled flights. In Cebu, where 12 died after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the Visayas island on October 15, about 200 families have fled their homes, the local government information office said in a posting on Twitter. Forced evacuation is ongoing in the northern part of the province of Bohol, where 209 people were killed by the earthquake, the Philippine Information Agency said on Twitter. The typhoon, which was advancing with a giant, 600km front, was expected to hit areas still recovering from a deadly 2011 storm and a 7.1-magnitude quake last month.

A local official in Bohol said at least 5000 people were still living in tents while waiting for new homes. The Philippines, battered by about 20 cyclones a year, was most affected in the world by natural disasters in 2012 with more than 2000 deaths, according to a report by the Brussels-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. Monsoon rains swamped more than half of the Metro Manila region in August, killing at least 27 and shutting offices and financial markets for two days. Tropical cyclone Usagi had winds as strong as 215 kilometres per hour and maximum gusts of 250 kilometres per hour when it hit the Batanes islands in northern Philippines in September. The government has put in place relief supplies worth 195 million pesos ($4.8 million) in Samar and Leyte islands in the Visayas where Haiyan is forecast to land first tomorrow, Coloma said.

Typhoon Ketsana killed more than 400 people when it swamped Manila and parts of Luzon in 2009. Storm Washi killed more than 1200 people, mostly in Mindanao, in December 2011. At least 222 died in the October 15 earthquake in the Visayas. Loading Among the strongest typhoons to have crossed the Philippines is Storm Durian in 2006 with gusts as strong as 320km/h, according to the weather bureau.

AP, AFP, Bloomberg and Lindsay Murdoch

