At least four people were killed after Super Typhoon Haima smashed into the northern Philippines with ferocious wind and rains, flooding towns and forcing thousands to flee although it slightly weakened Thursday after slamming into a mountain range on its way to the South China Sea, officials said. Haima's blinding winds and rain had rekindled fears and memories from the catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, but there were no immediate reports of any major damage amid faulty communications and power outages in several villages cut off from government aid and rescue teams by fallen trees, landslide and flood. But the evacuations from high-risk communities helped prevent a larger number of casualties and thousands were still in emergency shelters due to a powerful that hit the north a few days. Two construction workers died when a landslide buried their shanty in La Trinidad town in the mountain province of Benguet, officials said, while two villagers perished in another landslide and another was swept away in a river and remains missing in Ifugao province, near Benguet. "In my age, I'm 60 years old, this is the strongest typhoon I have ever seen," village councilor Willie Cabalteja told The Associated Press in Vigan city in Ilocos Sur province. Haima, with sustained winds of 225 kilometers (140 miles) per hour, hit northeastern Cagayan province late Wednesday then barreled northwestward before blowing out into the South China Sea with sustained winds of 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 185 kph (115 mph), according to forecasters. After dawn, the extent of damage in Cagayan — about 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Manila — and nearby regions became evident, with overturned vans, toppled or leaning electric posts and debris blocking roads. Most stores, their window panes shattered and canopies shredded by the wind, were closed. In northern Ilocos Sur province, rice fields resembled brown lakes under waist-high floodwaters, although cleanup operations had started. Image copyright EPA Image caption Over 10 million people were in the path of the storm

At least four people have been killed in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Haima hit the country. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, on an official visit to China, urged people in the typhoon's path to heed orders by disaster agencies, including abandoning coastal communities prone to storm surges. Duterte is on a state visit to China and is to fly home Friday. About 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, adding to the many burdens in a country that is also threatened by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and considered one of the world's most disaster-prone nations.
Typhoon Haima, the second tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines in less than a week, kills at least seven people and causes flooding, landslides, and power outages before heading out to sea.