Powerful typhoon Nock-Ten batters Philippines on Christmas Day
The typhoon is forecast to sweep west toward the country’s most densely populated areas, passing just south of the capital Manila on Monday afternoon
A powerful typhoon hit the Philippines late on Christmas Day, cutting off electricity to millions and disrupting Christmas celebrations for tens of thousands who fled its approach, officials said.
Typhoon Nock-Ten made landfall in the eastern island province of Catanduanes at 6:30 pm with gusts of 235 kilometres (146 miles) an hour, the state weather service said.
Officials said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the storm, one of the strongest this year to hit the disaster-prone archipelago on the Pacific Rim.
The military and local governments earlier moved at least 102,000 people from the coasts, Catanduanes and the nearby Bicol peninsula, an impoverished region which is home to more than five million, provincial officials said.
“Most of Bicol is without electricity,” Joaquin Berces, a member of the region’s civil defence office told AFP as residents hunkered down in the dark.
“We stayed indoors for our own safety and we probably won’t know the extent of the damage until tomorrow,” he said by telephone from Legazpi city, the regional capital about 350 kilometres southeast of Manila.
Communication and power lines have been cut in Catanduanes, he added.
Experts had earlier warned of large coastal waves of up to 2.5 metres (eight-feet) high, floods and landslides.