A powerful typhoon has wrecked houses, caused towering tidal surges and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to emergency shelters as it barreled across the northern Philippines in the sixth major storm to pound the Southeast Asian

A powerful typhoon wrecked houses, caused towering tidal surges and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to emergency shelters as it cut across the northern Philippines on Sunday in the sixth major storm to hit the country in less than a month.

Philippine authorities ordered all vessels back to shore and people in coastal communities to leave their homes Saturday as Typhoon Man-yi neared the storm-weary archipelago nation, with forecasters expecting it to intensify before making landfall.

Yi, has rapidly intensified into a powerful Category 5 Super Typhoon, with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h and gusts reaching up to 240 km/h. This morning, it escalated to Super Typhoon status and is now poised to bring life-threatening conditions to the northeastern Bicol Region.