MANILA: A super typhoon sweeping towards the Philippines on Saturday was intensifying and could have a “potentially catastrophic” impact, the state weather forecaster warned, with millions of people at risk from storm surges.

More than 650,000 people have fled their homes ahead of Super Typhoon Man-yi, which is expected to make landfall later Saturday or early Sunday, becoming the sixth major storm to pummel the archipelago nation in the past month. With wind gusts of up to 240 kilometers per hour (about 149 miles per hour), Man-yi was on track to slam into the sparsely populated island province of Catanduanes as a super typhoon or “near peak intensity”, the weather service said. “Potentially catastrophic and life-threatening situation looms for northeastern Bicol region as Super Typhoon ‘Pepito’ further intensifies,” the forecaster said, using the local name for the storm and referring to the southern part of the main island of Luzon.

Up to 14-metre (46-feet) high seas were expected around Catanduanes, while more than 7.6 million people were at risk from storm surges of one to three metres, the forecaster said. At least 163 people died in the five storms that pounded the Philippines in recent weeks, leaving thousands homeless and wiping out crops and livestock.

The government urged people Saturday to heed warnings to flee to safety. “If preemptive evacuation is required, let us do so and not wait for the hour of peril before evacuating or seeking help, because if we did that we will be putting in danger not only our lives but also those of our rescuers,” Interior Undersecretary Marlo Iringan said. In Albay province, Legazpi City grocer Myrna Perea was sheltering with her husband and their three children in a school classroom with nine other families after they were ordered to leave their shanty.

Conditions were hot and cramped—the family spent Friday night sleeping together on a mat under the classroom’s single ceiling fan—but Perea said it was better to be safe. “I think our house will be wrecked when we get back because it’s made of light materials—just two gusts are required to knock it down,” Perea, 44, told AFP. “That’s why we evacuated. Even if the house is destroyed, the important thing is we do not lose a family member.”

Scientists have warned climate change is increasing the intensity of storms, leading to heavier rains, flash floods and stronger gusts. About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Southeast Asian nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people, but it is rare for multiple such weather events to take place in a small window.

Evacuation centers were filling up on Catanduanes island in the typhoon-prone Bicol region, with the weather forecaster warning of “widespread incidents of severe flooding and landslides”.

Power was shut down ahead of the storm, with shelters and the command centre using generators for electricity. More than 400 people were squeezed into the provincial government building in the capital Virac, with new arrivals being sent to a gymnasium, provincial disaster officer Roberto Monterola told AFP. Monterola said he had dispatched soldiers to force about 100 households in two coastal villages near Virac to move inland due to fears storm surges could swamp their homes.

“Regardless of the exact landfall point, heavy rainfall, severe winds, and storm surges may occur in areas outside the predicted landfall zone,” the forecaster said. The mayor of Naga city in Camarines Sur province imposed a curfew from midday on Saturday in a bid to force residents indoors. - AFP