This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A typhoon has lashed the northern Philippines, killing at least six people and forcing more than 380,000 in several provinces to abandon Christmas celebrations at home and move to safer ground.

Typhoon Nock-ten cut power to five provinces due to toppled electric posts and trees, dimming the festivities in Asia’s largest Catholic country. More than 300 flights were delayed or rescheduled and ferries were barred from sailing, stranding more than 12,000 holidaymakers.

Six people died from drowning or by being pinned by fallen trees, poles and a collapsed concrete wall in the provinces of Quezon and Albay, south-east of Manila, after the typhoon made landfall in Catanduanes province on Sunday night, officials said.

Many military camps and outposts in Catanduanes and outlying provinces were damaged and some troops were injured, the military said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Residents walk past partially toppled electric posts after Nock-ten hit Malinao, Albay. Photograph: Reuters

Nock-ten, locally known as Nina, then blew westward across mountainous and island provinces, damaging homes, uprooting trees and knocking down communications.

After weakening on landfall, the typhoon had sustained winds of up to 74mph and gusts of 111mph when it blew into the South China Sea after battering the congested provinces of Batangas and Cavite, south of Manila, government forecasters said.

A cargo ship with about two dozen crew radioed for help as their vessel started to list off Batangas. It later ran aground and turned on its sided in Mabini town, the coastguard said.