A tropical cyclone of the strongest category has reached the Philippines. With wind speeds of up to 315 kilometres per hour, Super Typhoon RAGASA is moving westward north of the island of Luzon on Monday.

Thousands of people are already fleeing from enormous amounts of rain, metre-high storm surges and severe damage caused by hurricane-force gusts.

According to current calculations, RAGASA is continuing to move towards southern China and Hong Kong, although it is weakening. Taiwan will also be affected by heavy rain and storms.