MANILA: Super Typhoon Man-yi battered the Philippines on Saturday, with the national weather forecaster warning of a “potentially catastrophic and life-threatening” impact as huge waves pounded the archipelago’s coastline.

More than 650,000 people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi, which is the sixth major storm to hit the disaster-weary country in the past month.

Man-yi brought maximum wind speeds of 195 kilometres (121 miles) per hour as it made landfall on the sparsely populated island province of Catanduanes as a super typhoon, the weather service said, adding gusts were reaching 325 kilometres an hour.

“Potentially catastrophic and life-threatening situation looms for northeastern Bicol region as Super Typhoon ‘Pepito’ further intensifies,” the forecaster said hours before it made landfall, using the local name for the storm and referring to the southern part of the main island of Luzon. —AFP