Pablo rips through Mindanao

Typhoon Pablo makes landfall in Eastern Mindanao. (Photo courtesy of US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellite Services Division)

REUTERS - Typhoon Pablo (Bopha), the strongest tropical storm to hit the Philippines this year, slammed into Mindanao on Tuesday, destroying homes, cutting power and forcing the cancellation of flights and ferry services, officials said.

Pablo, with wind gusts of up to 195 kph (121 mph), made landfall at dawn, uprooting trees, tearing off roofs, and toppling power and communication lines.

"There goes my house," Landring Ceballos, a fisherman in Davao Oriental province told reporters as he watched in horror as winds lifted his makeshift house and dumped it in the sea.

There was only one confirmed death, but local media said people were injured by flying debris and falling trees.

About 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, often causing death and destruction. Typhoon Sendong (Washi) killed 1,500 people on Mindanao in 2011.

"We have suffered enough," Felicitas Cabusao said, clutching a Holy Rosary beside her crying 12-year-old daughter.

Cabusao said her daughter survived typhoon Sendong's fury in December 2011 after she was washed out to sea after flash floods swept entire coastal villages in Cagayan de Oro City.

Dozens of domestic flights and ferry services in central and southern Philippines were suspended, schools and some businesses were closed as police and fire engine sirens wailed, warning people to move to higher ground.

Ceballos and nearly 40,000 residents in coastal areas on Mindanao's easternmost provinces were evacuated to safer areas eight hours before Bopha made landfall.

Pablo, with a storm cloud covering of 500 kms (310 miles), was moving west-northwest and was expected to move out to South China Sea by Thursday, weather forecasters said.