Philippines typhoon havoc

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

A tropical storm continued to slam sections of the central Philippines with violent winds and torrential rain on Monday (December 8), as the typhoon crept through a region still recovering from the devastation of a super-storm 13 months ago.

While homes in the affected areas were destroyed by typhoon Hagupit, however, the nation collectively breathed a sigh of relief as a massive evacuation plan appeared to minimise fatalities.

The death toll from typhoon Hagupit stood at four on Monday, as over a million people escaped the wrath of the Category 3 storm in evacuation centres across the centre of the country, although hundreds of homes were flattened.

A year after a Category 5 super typhoon travelling roughly the same path left more than 7,000 people dead or missing in the Philippines, authorities took no chances and evacuated entire towns and villages into over 1,500 evacuation centres on Friday and Saturday.

Hagupit made