At least 10 people were killed as Typhoon Goni pounded the Philippines on Sunday, ripping off roofs, toppling power lines and causing flooding in the hardest-hit areas where hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. The strongest typhoon of the year also triggered deadly landslides that buried a number of houses in the southern part of the most populous island of Luzon, officials said. Goni was a “super typhoon” when it made landfall on Catanduanes Island before dawn, packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 225 kilometres (140 miles) per hour. It was downgraded a few hours later as it swept across Luzon and reduced intensity as it headed towards the capital Manila, where the sprawling city of 12 million was bracing for strong winds in the evening. “Destructive winds and intense rainfall” were affecting areas in the typhoon’s path, including provinces near the capital, the state weather forecaster warned in its latest update. At least nine people were killed in Albay and one in Catanduanes, Civil Defence said in a statement. That included three people who died in rain-induced landslides of volcanic ash that police said engulfed numerous houses in two adjacent villages near the active Mayon volcano in Albay. “We have recovered three bodies and are looking for three more,” said Major Domingo Tapel, chief of police in Guinobatan town. The roofs of buildings including two evacuation centres were torn off by the force of the wind, while torrential rain flooded roads and inundated towns. “The winds are fierce. We can hear the trees being pommelled. It’s very strong,” Francia Mae Borras, 21, said from her home in the nearby coastal city of Legazpi. “Goni is the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone” in history, said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections and co-founder of Weather Underground. The previous record was held by Super Typhoons Meranti and Haiyan, which made landfall in the Philippines in 2016 and 2013, respectively. It was downgraded from a super typhoon after making landfall and is expected to leave Philippine territory on Monday evening, heading toward the South China Sea. Goni comes a week after Typhoon Molave hit the same region of the natural disaster-prone archipelago, killing 22 people. Typhoon Goni: Philippines evacuates thousands as 2020’s worst storm set to hit Ricardo Jalad, head of the government’s disaster-response agency, said extensive damage was expected. “There are so many people who are really in vulnerable areas,” he said. Jalad said nearly a million people had been preemptively moved into emergency shelters. Residents had been warned of likely landslides, massive flooding, storm surges of up to five metres and powerful winds that could blow away shanties. Schools were being used as emergency shelters as were government-run evacuation centres and gymnasiums. “Evacuating people is more difficult at this time because of Covid-19,” Bicol regional civil defence spokesman Alexis Naz said. In Quezon, Governor Danilo Suarez said power supply was cut in 10 towns as Goni toppled trees on Sunday afternoon. Diane Joco, a Quezon resident, scrambled with her husband, parents, siblings and cousin out of their flimsy houses on stilts on the shores of Calauag town when the wind began to batter their wooden homes. Joco and her relatives had decided not to evacuate and stayed in a neighbour’s sturdier house close to the coast to watch over their home. “We should be nearby to be able to repair any damage to our house quickly, otherwise it will fall apart and be blown away. We have no other house,” Joco said by phone. She suddenly yelled as she spoke, saying a part of the tin roof of her neighbour’s house was nearly ripped off by a gust. Manila’s main airport was ordered shut down for 24 hours from Sunday to Monday and airlines cancelled dozens of international and domestic flights. The military and national police, along with the coastguard, were on full alert. Forecasters said the typhoon’s eye may pass about 70km south of metropolitan Manila, the sprawling capital of more than 13 million people, around nightfall on Sunday. Between 19 million and 31 million people could be affected by the typhoon, including those in danger zones and in metropolitan Manila, the disaster management agency said. President Rodrigo Duterte was monitoring the government’s disaster response from his southern hometown Davao city, according to presidential spokesman Harry Roque. The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure, keeping millions of people perennially poor. The weather bureau said it was also monitoring another cyclone, tropical storm Atsani, which could hit northern Luzon provinces in the coming days. Reporting by AP, AFP, Bloomberg, Reuters