BANGKOK: A powerful typhoon hit north-eastern parts of the main Philippine island of Luzon early on Sunday, bringing what forecasters warn could be three days of devastating floods and landslides.
Unlike other storms that regularly hit the island nation, Typhoon Koppu is excruciatingly slow moving, with weather forecasters warning it will dump torrential rains and hammer more than seven million people with ferocious winds until Tuesday.
A typhoon further east and a high pressure area north of the Philippines unusually trapped the storm in a "semi-stationary" position, forecasters said.
As the category four storm, which is called "Lando" locally, approached the Philippines it slowed to a crawl, packing wind gusts of 200 km/h with a cloud band more than 600 kilometres wide.
Emergency agencies evacuated about 6500 people from their homes ahead of the typhoon before its eye made landfall in the coastal town of Casiguran, 210 kilometres north-east of Manila, at 4am Sunday local time.
"It is nearly stationary," said Alexander Pama, head of the government's National Disaster Risk Reduction Council.
Radio stations said trees were down and power was cut in the area.
Philippines President Benigno Aquino said in a national television address that an estimated 7.5 million families would need relief assistance.
He told people not to panic but to make preparations.
The storm will not directly hit Manila, a sprawling capital of 12 million people, but it is so huge that even the southern parts of Luzon will be affected by winds and rain.
Forecasters said Koppu could dump up to 900 millimetres of rain and cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides across a large area.
Koppu is the 12th storm to hit the Philippines this year. More than 20 storms pummel the country annually.
In November 2013 the world's strongest ever typhoon slammed into the Philippine island of Leyte, killing more than 6000 people and injuring 27,000 others.
Unlike other storms that regularly hit the island nation, Typhoon Koppu is excruciatingly slow moving, with weather forecasters warning it will dump torrential rains and hammer more than seven million people with ferocious winds until Tuesday.
A typhoon further east and a high pressure area north of the Philippines unusually trapped the storm in a "semi-stationary" position, forecasters said.
As the category four storm, which is called "Lando" locally, approached the Philippines it slowed to a crawl, packing wind gusts of 200 km/h with a cloud band more than 600 kilometres wide.
Emergency agencies evacuated about 6500 people from their homes ahead of the typhoon before its eye made landfall in the coastal town of Casiguran, 210 kilometres north-east of Manila, at 4am Sunday local time.
"It is nearly stationary," said Alexander Pama, head of the government's National Disaster Risk Reduction Council.
Radio stations said trees were down and power was cut in the area.
Philippines President Benigno Aquino said in a national television address that an estimated 7.5 million families would need relief assistance.
He told people not to panic but to make preparations.
The storm will not directly hit Manila, a sprawling capital of 12 million people, but it is so huge that even the southern parts of Luzon will be affected by winds and rain.
Forecasters said Koppu could dump up to 900 millimetres of rain and cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides across a large area.
Koppu is the 12th storm to hit the Philippines this year. More than 20 storms pummel the country annually.
In November 2013 the world's strongest ever typhoon slammed into the Philippine island of Leyte, killing more than 6000 people and injuring 27,000 others.
