Typhoon Hagupit heads for the Philippines
- Published
Around half a million people have fled coastal villages and left their homes in the Philippines as a powerful storm approaches.
Typhoon Hagupit is due to hit land on Saturday evening. The latest update from weather authorities in the Philippines said that Hagupit, which means "smash" in Filipino, had weakened slightly, though it still had powerful gusts.
It is on course for the Eastern and Northern Samar provinces and the city of Tacloban, where thousands were killed by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago. Haiyan - known as Yolanda in the Philippines - was the most powerful typhoon ever recorded over land.
People are being moved to higher ground and into more solid buildings such as churches, schools and sports stadiums.
But, no-one is sure where the worst affected places will be because typhoons can change direction and intensity.
President Benigno Aquino has ordered food supplies to be sent to affected areas as well as troops and police to help people after the storm.
Hagupit's huge size, of 370 miles, means that about 50 million people, or half the nation's population, could be affected.
Meteorologists had said there was a chance that Hagupit could head north towards Japan and miss the Philippines altogether, but that's looking more and more unlikely.
- Published3 December 2013
