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MANILA : Typhoon Fengshen smashed into the Philippines' third largest island Friday packing winds of 140 kilometres (87 miles) an hour as residents braced for flooding, landslides and big waves.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage as the storm scythed northwest across Samar, an impoverished island of 1.5 million people.
Its eye was 60 kilometres away from the island's main city Calbayog at 4:00 pm (0800 GMT), the weather office here said.
Schools sent children home amid driving rain but at least 700 people were stranded at ports as local authorities suspended ferry services between Samar and the main island of Luzon, ABS-CBN television reported from the scene.
President Gloria Arroyo, who has been visiting the south, called off a visit to the central island of Panay and had her plane diverted back to the southern city of Davao, her spokesman Jesus Dureza told reporters.
She urged local governments to prepare for the storm that could trigger flooding and landslides.
Fengshen was expected to hit the Bicol peninsula on Luzon's southeastern tip on Saturday, and could then hit the Luzon heartland on Sunday, the weather bureau said in an updated forecast.
Arroyo has ordered that warnings be issued to all provinces along the typhoon's expected path, and for local governments to prepare for contingencies, senior aide Anthony Golez said in a statement.
The armed forces were also on "alert in order to support evacuation activities of local government units if needed," Golez said, while the social welfare department was beefing up its relief stockpiles.
The weather bureau, which upgraded Fengshen from a tropical storm on Friday, warned residents of low-lying areas and upland communities to take precautions against flash floods and landslides.
The bureau also said coastal communities could be hit by big waves.
Heavy rains brought by the storm have caused some flooding in parts of the country, but no casualties or damage have been reported.
Hundreds of people die in the Philippines every year due to floods and landslides caused by tropical storms or typhoons that sweep in mainly from the Pacific.
- AFP /ls
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