Super typhoon blows away houses

Manila: A powerful typhoon tore through eastern Philippines on Thursday with winds of up to 225 km/h, blowing away small houses, uprooting trees and cutting off power to thousands of homes, officials said.

Typhoon Durian lashed the eastern island province of Catanduanes early on Thursday but later veered to the south with its eye likely to spare the bustling capital, metropolitan Manila.

Forecasters, however, warned relieved Manila residents to still brace for potentially destructive winds.

"We should not be complacent, Metro-Manila please," chief weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz told ABS-CBN television.

"The eye of the typhoon will not hit Metro Manila but definitely we will feel the effect of this super typhoon although the eye is quite far from us," he said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Catanduanes, about 370kms east of Manila, after authorities ordered the evacuation of coastal areas, said Office of Civil Defence Deputy Administrator Arthur Golez.

Many people went to relatives' houses on higher ground and about 120 sought shelter at the provincial capital, he said.

Some Catanduanes residents described the winds as so strong it felt like an earthquake, Manila Radio DZBB reported. Catanduanes officials were difficult to contact apparently because of downed communication lines but in Naga city in nearby Camarines Sur province, where the typhoon passed in the afternoon, officials said they received reports of houses being blown away by the wind.

Rescuers struggled against dangerously strong winds to rescue several residents whose roofs were blown off, exposing them to rain and flying metal sheets and other debris, Naga Mayor Jessie Robredo said.

Many residents whose houses were damaged by winds sought help from authorities by sending SMS messages, he said.

"I've received SMS messages of 10 houses being blown away by the wind and many others getting damaged," Robredo said.

"The wind was very strong and I expect heavy damage to properties and public facilities," he said.

Manila airport authorities said two Northwest Airlines flights from Narita and Nagoya, Japan, late on Thursday, and their return flights this morning, have been cancelled, along with nine domestic flights.

The civil defence office said electricity was cut off to thousands of people in Bicol and 10 towns in nearby Quezon province, while nearly 4,000 ferry passengers were stranded after the coast guard grounded all vessels.