The violent typhoon has carved a swathe through the islands, destroying houses, toppling trees and power lines and shattering roads and bridges.

Some 23,000 people have been evacuated from the path of the raging typhoon, as ferries and flights grind to a halt.

One of those killed was a 14-year-old boy, who was crushed when a tree toppled over and crushed his home in Manila, also injuring four other people.

But authorities are warning that this is only beginning, as the storm moves further inland.

‘I must emphasise that this is just the start. People must remain alert while we try to pick up the pieces in areas already hit,’ warning Alexander Pama, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Council.

The category four typhoon descended before dawn today, near the town of Casiguran in Aurora province.

Fierce winds of up to 130mph (210kph) whipped the coastal region for nearly seven hours, giving rise to coastal surges more than four metres high, before moving inland.

It later crossed over the Pantabangan Dam in the southern foothills of the Cordillera, the country’s largest mountain range, with gusts of (114mph) 185kph.

Heavy rains are wreaking havoc in isolated mountain villages, with military and volunteer rescue teams dispatched to the rice-farming province of Nueva Ecija, where rivers burst their banks and flooded several villages.

Rescue teams reported seeing human bodies floating in one of the flooded villages, according to Aurelio Umali, the governor of Nueva Ecija province. But they have not yet been recovered.

‘People are asking for help because the floodwaters are rising. The rescuers cannot penetrate the area as of now,’ Nigel Lontoc, the assistant civil defence chief for the region, told AFP.

‘Koppu tore off roofs of homes made of light materials. Rivers overflowed and the roads to the area are blocked by downed power pylons and trees.’

Authorities warned that heavy rains could still trigger flash floods and landslides in the Cordillera, known for its spectacular rice terraces carved on the slopes of towering mountains.

Mr Lontoc added that at least eight other people have been reported missing, including three people in the coastal resort town of Baler, near Casiguran, after a large wave struck their house, and three fishermen in Manila Bay.

On the country’s main island, Luzon, which is home to 100million people, some 10,000 people have been displaced.

(dailymail.co.uk)