Hagupit now a tropical depression (Updated Tuesday)

Hagupit has weakened further and is now classified as a tropical depression at it leaves the Philippines. The death toll has risen to 27, but that has to be considered a victory for authorities after thousands were killed last year by Super Typhoon Haiyan.

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Tuesday morning update

Hagupit is has been downgraded further to a tropical depression with sustained winds of only about 60kph. Manila and the surrounding areas have been hit by rain, but initial reports indicate the rainfall has been less than expected.

Monday evening update

Hagupit is clearly weakening as it nears Manila but heavy rain is still expected and officials and residents are on high alert.

Meanwhile, in areas already hit by the storm, the death toll has risen dramatically. Here is the story from AFP:

Hagupit has claimed at least 23 lives so far, with 18 of those deaths on Samar, Philippine Red Cross secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang told AFP.

Sixteen people drowned during flooding in Borongan, a city on Samar of about 60,000 facing the Pacific Ocean that was almost in Hagupit's direct path, according to Pang.

Footage aired by local television network GMA showed children standing beside landslide-choked roads in Borongan on Monday carrying signs reading: "Help us, help us".

The death toll was widely expected to climb, with damage assessments from some badly hit areas yet to come in, and the storm not expected to fully cross the archipelago of 7,100 islands until Tuesday.

Monday morning update

Hagupit to hit Manila area later today

Manila is next for Typhoon Hagupit which is expected to begin to feel the storm's wrath later today. The heaviest rain and winds are expected around sunset. Flooding is a major concern.

Meanwhile, government authorities report casualties still appear to be light – less than 10 known deaths so far – and damage seems "manageable", but many areas in the storm zone are still not accessible. The picture should become clearly later today.

The storm continues to move slowly to the northwest and won't completely clear the Philippines until Wednesday or Thursday.

Here's the latest from AFP

Millions hunker down in Philippine capital ahead of storm

Millions of people in the Philippine capital hunkered down Monday as a major storm churned towards the megacity, after killing at least two people and destroying thousands of homes on remote islands.

However Hagupit weakened from a typhoon as it moved slowly across the central Philippines, fuelling cautious optimism the disaster-weary Southeast Asian nation may avoid another calamity involving hundreds of deaths.

In Metro Manila, a sprawling coastal megalopolis of 12 million people that regularly endures deadly flooding, well-drilled evacuation efforts went into full swing as forecasters warned of heavy rain from dusk.

"We are on 24-hour alert for floods and storm surges... it's the flooding that we are worried about," Joseph Estrada, mayor of Manila, the original city of two million within Metro Manila, told AFP.

Thousands of people, mostly the city's poorest residents who live in shanty homes along the coast and riverbanks, crammed into schools and other government evacuation centres across the megacity on Monday.

Schools were also suspended, the stock market was closed, many office and government workers were told to stay at home, and dozens of commercial flights were cancelled.

Sunday evening update

The BBC has just reported from Tacloban and storm-affected areas further north that casualties from Typhoon Hagupit have thus far been very light and the damage far less than was the case last year during Haiyan. But that doesn't mean the residents have escaped unscathed. Here is the latest from AFP:

A year after losing all their belongings to one of the world's strongest storms, thousands of weary people in the Philippines emerged from evacuation shelters on Sunday to find their homes again in ruins.

Typhoon Hagupit hit the central Philippines late on Saturday with gusts of 210 kilometres (130 miles) an hour, destroying flimsy houses, tearing roofs off others, knocking down power poles and smashing bridges.

Hagupit, which was due to take three days to cut across the Philippines, did not generate the massive storm surges that claimed so many lives last year in the central Philippines.

Mass evacuations before it arrived also helped to ensure there was no repeat of the mass casualties in the areas devastated by Haiyan.

"There is a collective sigh of relief," Jerry Yaokasin, vice mayor of Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people that was one of the worst-hit last year, told AFP

"The initial assessment is that there are no casualties. We were better prepared... up to 50,000 people were packed in evacuation centres."

But many people – who have since Haiyan lived in tents, temporary shelters and shanty homes – again faced the trauma of losing their homes.

"The temporary houses destroyed by the typhoon is our big problem right now... our biggest challenge is how to provide for those who were displaced because of that," Yaokasin said.

Sunday morning updates

CNN reports this morning the Hagupit is on land and moving very slowly – only at a rate of about 14 kph per hour ("You could outrun it," a CNN meteorologist said.)

Unfortunately, this means extremely heavy and prolonged rain over at least the next three days. which the strong possibility of severe flooding.

(10:15) Andrew Stevens of CNN, reporting from Tacloban, confirms that the city devastated by Haiyan last year has escaped a major catastrophe this time. People were evacuated in a timely manner and, thankfully, there was no storm surge this time.

Farther north, however, the CNN meteorologist says the slow-moving storm has already dumped nearly 400mm of rain in some areas in only 24 hours. As the storm moves on, winds on the back side of the storm are expected to blow onshore and waves up to four meters high are possible.

Here is an early morning report from AFP on what we know so far:

Typhoon tears down homes in disaster-weary Philippines

LEGASPI, Philippines, AFP – Typhoon Hagupit tore apart homes and sent waves crashing through coastal communities across the eastern Philippines on Sunday, creating more misery for millions following a barrage of deadly disasters.

The typhoon roared in from the Pacific Ocean and crashed into remote fishing communities of Samar island on Saturday night with wind gusts of 210 kilometres (130 miles) an hour, local weather agency Pagasa said.

The wind strength made Hagupit the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year, exceeding a typhoon in July that killed more than 100 people.

"Tin roofs are flying off, trees are falling and there is some flooding," Stephany Uy-Tan, the mayor of Catbalogan, a major city on Samar, told AFP by phone minutes after Hagupit made landfall.

Fearful of a repeat of last year when Super Typhoon Haiyan claimed more than 7,350 lives, the government undertook a massive evacuation effort ahead of Hagupit that saw millions of people seek shelter.

Hagupit was forecast to take three days to cut across the Philippines, passing over mostly poor central regions, while also bringing heavy rain to the densely populated capital of Manila slightly to the north.

As day broke on Sunday, many areas across the eastern Philippines were uncontactable and it was impossible to know how badly they were damaged, Red Cross secretary general Gwendolyn Pang told AFP.

In those that were reachable, residents and officials reported terrifying winds and waves that destroyed homes, although with most people in evacuation centres there were hopes casualties would be few.

In Tacloban, one of the cities worst-hit by Haiyan, palm-thatch temporary houses built by aid agencies for survivors of last year's typhoon had been torn aport, vice mayor Jerry Yaokasin told AFP.

However there was no repeat of the storm surges that did the most damage during Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda.

"There is a collective sigh of relief. The initial assessment is that there are no casualties. We were better prepared after Yolanda, up to 50,000 people were packed in evacuation centres," he said.

Saturday story and updates

21:50

Hagupit has reportedly made the first of five landfalls tonight. Electricity has been cut in much of the area, so we can't expect a lot of solid news until the morning hours.

18:45

As you might have noticed this evening, there is a full moon tonight and the high tide that brings could made the Hagupit storm surge worse. Meteorologists are predicting waves as high as four metres for the islands directly in the storm's path.

Fortunately, that is to the north of Tacloban City in the central Philippines which bore the brunt of Super Typhoon Haiyan last year. The city is likely to receive in excess of 100mm of rain and very heavy winds, but further north the situation is likely to be much worse.

First to be hit by Hagupit tonight is expected to be the eastern island of Samar where winds of 185 kilometres an hour are expected. Some areas may receive up to 500mm of rain in addition to the heavy winds.

The Philippines braces for another super storm

Thailand's football match in Manila not affected

Thailand is scheduled to play the Philippines in the semi-final first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup tonight in Manila. At the airport prior to team's departure, team officials expressed concern that they might be playing in a storm as Super Typhoon Hagupit was approaching the country.

That won't happen. At 7pm tonight when the match begins, Hagupit (or "Ruby" as it has been named in the Philippines) should just be making its first significant landfall about 800 kilometres away. The Thais would be advised to leave Manila as soon as possible after the match, however, because conditions are likely to deteriorate in a hurry.

Here is the latest report from AFP on the storm:

Millions evacuate as typhoon bears down on Philippines

Millions of people in the Philippines sought shelter in churches, schools and other makeshift evacuation centres on Friday as Typhoon Hagupit bore down on the disaster-weary nation.

The storm, which would be the strongest to hit the Southeast Asian archipelago this year, is expected to impact more than half the nation including communities devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan last year.

Authorities said millions of people were pouring into evacuation centres ahead of Hagupit's expected landfall on Saturday night or Sunday, having learnt the lessons of early preparations after Haiyan.

"Everyone here is gripped with fear," Rita Villadolid, 39, told AFP as she sat with her family and hundreds of other people inside a stadium in Tacloban, one of the cities still yet to recover from Haiyan.

Elsewhere in Tacloban, a coastal city of 220,000 people on the eastern island of Leyte, people began flooding into churches and schools with little more than bags of clothes and rice.

Haiyan, the strongest storm ever recorded on land with winds of 315 kilometres an hour, killed or left missing more than 7,350 people as it tore across the central Philippines in November last year.

Hagupit weakened slightly on Friday and was downgraded from a super typhoon category as it tracked towards the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean, generating maximum winds of 195 kilometres an hour.

But Hagupit was still predicted to be the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year, bringing storm surges more than one storey high to many coastal areas, according to state weather agency Pagasa.

Hagupit's giant front of more than 600 kilometres meant about 50 million people, or half the nation's population, were living in vulnerable areas, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman told AFP.

She said 100,000 families, or about half a million people, were already in evacuation centres by Friday night, and many more would follow on Saturday.

In the eastern region of Bicol alone, which sits in Hagupit's direct path, the government was aiming to move 2.5 million into evacuation centres, regional civil defence director Bernardo Alejandro told AFP.

Metro Manila, the nation's capital with a population of more than 12 million people, could also suffer a direct hit, according to the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Authorities in Manila, about 800 kilometres to the west of where Hagupit was expected to initially make landfall, said they were preparing for heavy flooding on Monday.

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