Seven dead as Typhoon Goni hits Philippines

Gulf Today Report

At least seven people were killed as a super typhoon Typhoon Goni has barreled into the southern part of the Philippines' main island of Luzon on Sunday.

Authorities have issued warning of "catastrophic" conditions in the hardest-hit regions where hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.

Typhoon Goni is the strongest storm recorded anywhere in the world so far this year, and ahead of its landfall in the Philippines.

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Goni was downgraded from a "super typhoon" as it swept across the southern end of the most populous island Luzon towards the capital Manila, the state weather forecaster said in its latest update.

Rescue workers help an evacuee onto a waiting vehicle during an evacuation on Sunday. AFP

At least four people, including a five-year-old, were killed in Albay province, Governor Alfrancis Bichara told a local radio station.

Two of the victims drowned while another was swept away by volcanic mud. The fourth was killed by a falling tree.

"The winds are fierce. We can hear the trees being pummelled. It's very strong," Francia Mae Borras, 21, told the media from her home in the coastal city of Legazpi in Albay.

The roofs of two evacuation centres were torn off by the force of the wind and the occupants moved to the ground floors, the provincial public safety chief Cedric Daep told DZBB radio station.

A rescue worker escorts a child to a waiting vehicle during an evacuation. AFP

"Flash floods inundated our villages," said Carlos Irwin Baldo, the mayor of Camalig, near Legazpi.

"Our roads have a lot of debris from the mountains such as branches and sand, some which came from Mayon (volcano). Some roads are unpassable."

So far, 346,993 people have been evacuated from their homes, Civil Defence chief Ricardo Jalad said.

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.