Evacuees were taking shelter on Sunday as Super Typhoon Fung-wong, the biggest storm to threaten the Philippines this year, started battering the country’s northeastern coast ahead of landfall.

Strong winds knocked down power lines, forcing the evacuation of more than a million people and prompting the defence chief to warn many others to evacuate to safety from high-risk villages before it’s too late.

Fung-wong could cover two-thirds of the Southeast Asian archipelago with its 1,600-kilometre- (994-mile-) wide rain and wind band.

The storm approached from the Pacific while the Philippines was still dealing with the devastation wrought by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left at least 224 people dead in central island provinces on Tuesday, before pummelling Vietnam, where at least five were killed.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a state of emergency due to the extensive devastation caused by Kalmaegi and the expected calamity from Fung-wong, which is called Uwan in the Philippines.

Fung-wong, with winds of up to 185 kph (115 mph) and gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph), was spotted by government forecasters before noon on Sunday over coastal waters near the town of Pandan in eastern Catanduanes province, where torrential rains and fog have obscured visibility.

The typhoon is expected to track northwestward and make landfall on the coast of Aurora or Isabela province later Sunday or early Monday, state forecasters said.

Tropical cyclones with sustained winds of 185 kph (115 mph) or higher are categorized in the Philippines as a super typhoon, a designation adopted years ago to underscore the urgency tied to more extreme weather disturbances.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.

The country is also often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

AP video by Aaron Favila