Typhoon Hagupit hits the Philippines

1 million evacuated as typhoon Hagupit engulfs Philippines

In one of the world’s largest peacetime evacuations, one million people have flocked to shelters hoping to take cover against typhoon Hagupit which has brought heavy rains and strong winds throughout the island nation.

RT,

5 December, 2014

"We received reports of about a million people evacuating already. There is increased awareness to make early action and co-operate and do pre-emptive evacuation," Gwendolyn Pang, of the Philippine Red Cross, said in a television interview quoted in Reuters.

Heavy rains and vicious gusts caused by the typhoon have toppled trees, downed power lines, and ripped off tin roofs. Meanwhile, power was cut across swaths of the central Philippine island Samar and the Leyte province.

Weather officials warn that the vicious storm poses a high risk to at least 47 of the country’s provinces.

The typhoon has, however, weakened as it moves towards the nation’s eastern provinces and is now considered a category-3 storm—two notches below a “super typhoon” like last year’s devastating typhoon Haiyan.

Haiyan - 2013's deadliest natural disaster - killed over 7,350 people and displaced over 4 million.