The storm made landfall on the eastern island of Samar; the eye of the typhoon hit the town of Dolores at 13:15 GMT. Power was cut across most of the island, as well as the nearby Leyte province, Reuters adds.
Nearly 1 million people were relocated to shelters in what the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has already called one of the largest peacetime evacuations.
No casualties have been reported so far.
The United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center downgraded Hagupit from “super typhoon” status, and the Japan Meteorological Agency lowered its designation from “violent” (the highest level) to “very strong,” according to The New York Times. Nevertheless, it is the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines in 2014, the newspaper adds.
Last year the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Haiyan — known locally as Yolanda – one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recovered. According to UN officials, about 11 million people were affected by it.
