Numerous people have been killed as one of the most intense typhoons on record hit the Philippines.
AT least four people have been killed and more than half a million displaced as Typhoon Haiyan pummels the archipelago.
Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, made landfall at five locations, according to the weather bureau.
It set off landslides, knocking out power in several province and cutting communications in the country's central region of island provinces.
Eduardo Del Rosario, head of the national disaster relief agency, says 720,000 people have been evacuated from homes in coastal communities and areas prone to floods or landslides in 22 provinces.
Super Typhoon Haiyan moves towards the Philippines across the Pacific Ocean. Picture: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
But 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.
At least 12 local airports have now been closed including those servicing the popular tourist island destinations of Palawan, Bohol and Boracay.
One of the most intense typhoons ever recorded has torn through the Philippines causing widespread damage.
"The winds were so strong that they flattened all the banana plants around the house," university student Jessa Aljibe, 19, told AFP by telephone from the Samar city of Borongan shortly after Haiyan made landfall.
All telephone contact to the island was later lost as the typhoon moved inland.
Knee-deep floodwater carrying debris that had been blown down by the fierce winds poured down the streets of Tacloban city on Leyte Island. Tin roofing sheets ripped from buildings were flying above the street.
Flood waters quickly rose in Tacloban, Leyte on Friday morning, as typhoon "Yolanda" made landfall in nearby Guiuan, Eastern Samar at 4:40 a.m.
Visibility was so poor that only the silhouette of a local reporter could be seen through the driving rain.
See how the typhoon unfolded today
The Philippines suffered the world's strongest storm of 2012, when Typhoon Bopha left about 2000 people dead or missing on the southern island of Mindanao.
Residents living near the slopes of Mayon volcano are evacuated to public schools by police in anticipation of the powerful typhoon Haiyan that threatened Albay province and several provinces in central Philippines.
But Haiyan's wind strength made it one of the four most powerful typhoons ever recorded and the most intense to have made landfall , according to Jeff Masters, the director of meteorology at US-based Weather Underground.
Weather officials said that Haiyan had sustained winds at 235km/h, with gusts of 275 kp/h when it made landfall, but the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center put the speeds higher with wind gusts of 379km/h.
Masters said the previous record for the strongest typhoon to make landfall was Hurricane Camille, which hit Mississippi in the US with sustained winds of 190 miles an hour in 1969.
A satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Typhoon Haiyan over the Philippines. Picture: NOAA
The US expert said he expected the damage in Guiuan, a fishing town of about 40,000 people that was the first to be hit on Friday, to be "catastrophic".
Communication lines with Guiuan remained cut off in the afternoon, and the civil defence office said it was unable to give an assessment of the damage there.
Australian man Mark Denning told News Corp Australia he and his wife were bunkered down in their hotel room on the tourist island of Boracay as the storm approached.
This animation shows of MTSAT satellite data shows the progression of Super Typhoon Haiyan on 7 November as it began moving over the Philippines. Courtesy: University of Wisconsin
Mr Denning, who was holidaying on the island for his younger brother's wedding, said beaches were deserted and tourists had retreated to the safety of their hotels.
He said the island was being battered by strong winds and heavy rain and power was intermittent.
"With the imminent force of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) heading to us in the coming hours we're preparing as best we can within our hotel room. For us it's a packed bag, some water, and a plan to make our mattress into a cubby," he told News Corp via email.
Residents of Legazpi city in Albay province, south of Manila, are evacuated as Typhoon Haiyan nears.
"The Filipino people have been preparing for days, boarding up shops, removing anything that could possibly become a missile. Even trimming coconut trees.
"I'm bunkered down with my wife in Boracay. What started as an idyllic resort island, which played host to my younger brother's wedding, is now turning out to be something quite surreal."
Mr Denning said the bigger concern was for locals, many of whom did not have adequate shelter.
Roofing iron is blown horizontally through the sky as winds of up to 378km/h blast into Tachloban City in the Philippines.
"For the Filipino people who live in shanty towns, with buildings made of ply and rusted corrugated iron sheets, I can only hope that there is a plan in place to take them to safety," he said.
"It is hard to predict the final devastation of this storm, and as we seek shelter from Yolanda's fury we pray that her bark is a lot worse than her bite."
Dawin couple Jeremy Kay and Georgina Nefiodovas were also stranded on Boracay Island, having arrived on the weekend.
"At the moment we are unable to leave Boracay as they have stopped all boats leaving the island," Mr Kay told the NT News.
"This means for the next few days we will be staying here bracing ourselves for the weather to come.
"We caught a taxi to the ferry but unfortunately they only had limited boats to go and far too many people wanting to leave so we weren't able to get across."
More than 125,000 people had been evacuated from towns and villages in the typhoon's path, which was to cut across the central Philippines, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Among them were thousands of residents of Bohol who had been camped in tents and other makeshift shelters after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the island last month.
Southern Leyte Governor Roger Mercado said 31,000 people were evacuated in his landslide-prone mountainous province before the super typhoon struck, knocking out power, setting off small landslides that blocked roads in rural areas, uprooting trees and ripping 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 said, adding that his town mayors have not called in to report any major damage.
"I hope that means they were spared and not the other way around.
"My worst fear is there will be many massive loss of lives and property."
The typhoon - the 24th serious storm to hit the Philippines this year - is forecast to barrel through the Philippines' central region Friday and Saturday before blowing toward the South China Sea over the weekend, heading toward Vietnam.
Plan International Philippines Director Carin van der Hor told the ABC's World Today the situation was "not looking good".
"...another threat is landslides and storm surges and flash floods so we're watching out for those as well," she said.
She said the orgnanisation was bracing itself for more casualties, particularly in Bohol.
"Looking at Bohol, we are not optimistic. We're seeing that people who are still in tents now have to be evacuated because their tent cities are flooded, because the winds are so dangerous," she said.
"So there is going to be a huge financial damage but more importantly, there is also going to be loss of life, and so far we haven't heard any casualties reported but we are bracing ourselves for the worst."
Weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said the typhoon was not losing much of its strength because there was no large land mass to slow it down since the region is comprised of islands with no tall mountains.
Officials in Cebu province have shut down electric service to the northern part of the province to avoid electrocutions in case power pylons are toppled, said assistant regional civil defence chief Flor Gaviola.
President Benigno Aquino III assured the public of war-like preparations, with three C-130 air force cargo planes and 32 military helicopters and planes on standby, along with 20 navy ships.
BATTERED REGION
The Philippines archipelago of more than 7,100 islands is hit by an average of 20 typhoons or tropical storms each year, which kill hundreds and sometimes thousands of people.
The storms are created above the warmer waters of the Pacific Ocean near the equator, and the Philippines' islands are often the first major landmass they hit as they move northwest.
Some government authorities say climate change is increasing the ferocity and frequency of the typhoons. Haiyan is one of the strongest ever recorded in the world, and is the Philippines' 24th tropical storm or typhoon of the year, exceeding the annual average.
However some scientists say it is premature to blame climate change, and the Philippines has endured many devastating typhoons that have each claimed many hundreds of lives.
Here is a look at 10 of the deadliest typhoons on record in the Philippines:-
1. Tropical Storm Thelma unleashes flash floods on the central city of Ormoc on Leyte island on November 15, 1991, killing more than 5,100.
2. Typhoon Bopha smashes into the main southern island of Mindanao on December 3, 2012. Rarely hit by major storms, the unprepared region suffers about 1,900 people dead or missing.pe3. Typhoon Ike hits the central Philippines on August 31, 1984, killing 1,363 people.
4. Typhoon Washi hits the northern part of Mindanao island on December 16, 2011, killing at least 1,080 people.
5. Floods and landslides unleashed by Typhoon Trix kill 995 people in the Bicol region of the main island of Luzon on October 16, 1952.
6. Typhoon Amy rakes across the central islands from December 9, 1951, killing 991 people as it unleashed floods and landslides and caused a massive storm surge that destroyed large sections of Negros island's west coast.
7. Storm surges struck the eastern city of Legazpi on November 25, 1987 as Typhoon Nina roared into the Bicol region, where it also unleashed deadly mudslides down Mayon volcano. The disaster caused 979 deaths.
8. Typhoon Fengshen tracked an erratic and destructive path across the central islands and nearby areas from June 20, 2008, killing 938 people.
9. Typhoon Angela, one of the strongest storms to ever hit the Philippines with gusts of up to 260 kilometres an hour, caused carnage in Bicol and later Manila from November 2, 1995, killing 936 people.
10. Typhoon Agnes struck the central islands from November 5, 1984, killing 895 people.
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