Typhoon Parma made landfall on the Philippines at midday local time on Saturday, first hitting the northern province of Cagayan. Winds reached speeds of between 175 and 210 kilometres an hour, accompanied by heavy rain.

The capital city of Cagayan, Tuguegarao, suffered heavy damage according to its Mayor, Delfin Ting. "There's massive destruction of rooftops and trees have been toppled", Ting said.

Elsewhere on the main island of Luzon, authorities said three people had been killed and one was missing.

The typhoon avoided the capital despite predictions that it would make landfall closer to Manila.

Senator Dick Gordon of the Philippines National Red Cross told RFI that the organisation was prepared. "There are a lot of pre-emptive evacuations going on," he said, "so there are 4,000 families that are now in evacuation centres just to avoid the typhoons".

"We've given instructions that ten oclock will be high tide so they should move their people to high ground or at least go to evacuation centres," he told RFI.

"In the meantime we are busy providing non-food items to the victims of the first typhoon as well as food as well as medical attention", he said.