One of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the Philippines killed at least eight people on Thursday as ferocious gales and landslides destroyed tens of thousands of homes.
Super Typhoon Haima struck late on Wednesday night with winds similar to those of catastrophic Haiyan in 2013, which was then the strongest storm to strike the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago and claimed more than 7,350 lives.
Haima then roared across mountain and farming communities of the northern regions of the main island of Luzon overnight, causing widespread destruction and killing at least eight people, authorities said.
"We were frightened because of the strong winds. There was no power, no help coming," Jovy Dalupan, 20, told AFP as she sheltered at nightfall on the side of a highway in San Pablo, a badly damaged town of 20,000 people in Isabela province.
Dalupan, her two young daughters and husband, were forced to flee to the highway along with their neighbours during the height of the storm when their shanty homes, made of plywood, were ripped apart.
"We were soaked when the roof flew off, even my little babies got drenched... all of our clothes were drenched. We have nothing to change into."
Haima hit coastal towns facing the Pacific Ocean with sustained winds of 225 kilometres (140 miles) an hour, and wind gusts of up to 315 kilometres.
It weakened overnight as it rammed into giant mountain ranges and by Thursday morning had passed over the western edge of Luzon and into the South China Sea, heading towards southern China.
The governor of Cagayan, a province of 600,000 people neighbouring Isabela where Haima made landfall, said the entire region was without power as he reported widespread destruction.
"Almost every house here has been damaged," governor Manuel Mamba told ABS CBN television.
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