20 dead as typhoon batters the Philippines

At least 20 people have died in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, the disaster agency said on Friday, after the storm swept across the archipelago uprooting trees, toppling power poles and flooding villages. 

More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai pummelled the southern and central regions of the country, knocking out communications in some areas and tearing roofs off buildings.

Rai was a super typhoon when it slammed into Siargao Island on Thursday, packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometres an hour. On Friday, wind speeds eased to 150 kilometres an hour, the state weather forecaster said.

"Siargao island is heavily damaged," Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the national disaster agency, told a briefing. 

Jalad said 12 people have been reported killed during the storm, which lashed the popular tourist destination of Palawan Island after ravaging the Visayas and the southern island of Mindanao. 

Another seven have been reported missing and two injured, he added.

"We are seeing people walking in the streets, many of them shell-shocked," ABS-CBN correspondent Dennis Datu reported from the hard-hit city of Surigao, which is on the northern tip of Mindanao and near Siargao.

"All buildings sustained heavy damage, including the provincial disaster office. It looks like it's been hit by a bomb."

Datu said the main roads leading into the coastal city had been cut off by landslides, fallen trees and toppled power poles. 

More than 300,000 people had sought emergency shelter as the typhoon charged across the Pacific Ocean and smashed into the country, the agency said. About 18,000 had yet to return home.