Super Typhoon Haima is battering the north of the Philippines - putting 10 million people in harms way, according to aid agencies.
The category four storm comes two years after the Philippines was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan - which killed thousands of people.
Packing winds of up to 225 kilometres per hour, Haima was upgraded to super typhoon status before it made landfall the northern Philippines district of Cagayan.
Intense winds ripped roofs from houses, and electricity was cut to several towns.
"We are all scared here because this will be the first time that we will have a typhoon as strong as this one in our town," local fisherman Rolly Piano told Reuters.
Filipino typhoon victims rest on a toppled tree along a street in the typhoon-hit town of Iguig, Cagayan province, Philippines, 20 October 2016. (AAP) Source: AAP
Haima is the second typhoon to hit the northern Philippines in a week.
Typhoon Sarika struck over the weekend, killing at least one person and leaving at least three missing in its wake.
Coastal towns in the north are now bracing for storm surges that could reach up to five metres.
Super Typhoon Haima is the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since November 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people and injured 27-thousand.
"We only pray we be spared the destruction such as the previous times, which brought agony and suffering. But we are ready," said Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
Emergency services have pre-emptively evacuating more than 15,000 people.
Oxfam Deputy Philippines Director Shelley Honeychurch told SBS the Philippines government is better prepared than it was in 2013.
"Many of the communities who would have been at risk have actually been put out of harm's way."
Schools in the typhoon's path have been closed, and flights to the north of the country suspended - leaving hundreds stranded.
"Of course it's tiring but we can't do anything because there's a storm. Of course we want our flight to be safe," stranded passenger Yusop Avantas told Reuters.
Super Typhoon Haima is forecast to move away from the Philippines in the coming hours, before heading towards southern China.
