Typhoon 'Smash': 150mph Winds To Hit Philippines

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A powerful storm with winds nearing 150mph is heading for the central Philippines, prompting an outbreak of panic-buying as villagers flee coastal homes.

The anticipated arrival in Eastern Samar province on Saturday of Typhoon Hagupit - Filipino for "smash" - comes a year after Typhoon Haiyan left more than 7,300 dead as it swept inland along the same route.

Meteorologists tracking it over the Pacific, 435 miles off the country's eastern coast, say it has sustained winds of 127mph and gusts as high as 149mph.

Haiyan survivor Emily Sagales said many of her neighbours in central Tacloban city, which was ravaged by Haiyan, had packed their clothes and fled to a sports stadium and safer homes of relatives.

She said long queues had formed at food stores and petrol stations as residents stocked up on basic goods.

The 23-year-old, who saw her mother-in-law killed and her home washed away in Haiayan, gave birth to her first child in a crowded makeshift clinic following the disaster.

"The trauma has returned," she said.

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Gallery: Philippines Braces For Huge Typhoon

People take shelter inside a church after evacuating their homes due to super-typhoon Hagupit in Tacloban city, central Philippines

Ports are shut, leaving thousands of travelers stranded, and some local authorities ordered forced evacuations as super-typhoon Hagupit swept towards eastern coasts of the island nation

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Meteorologists from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) monitor and plot the direction of super typhoon Hagupit

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Known locally as Ruby, the storm will bear down on the Philipinnes this weekend

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Residents with their belongings wait for a government vehicle to bring them to the evacuation center in Tacloban city

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"It's worse now because I didn't have a baby to worry about last year."

Haiyan destroyed around one million homes and displaced some four million people in the central Philippines, and hundreds of residents still living in tents in Tacloban have been prioritised in an ongoing evacuation.

Hotels in Tacloban, a city of more than 200,000 people still struggling to recover from last year's damage, were running out of rooms as wealthier families booked ahead for the weekend.

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Gallery: Before And After Images

View of the entrance to San Roque Elementary School in Leyte, Philippines

The same view one year on

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Roan Florendo, of the hilltop Leyte Park hotel, said: "The sun is still shining but people are obviously scared. Almost all of our rooms have been booked."

The military has been put on full alert and evacuation centres have been opened, while food packs, medicines and body bags have been transported to far-flung villages that could be cut off by heavy rains.

In capital Manila, President Benigno Aquino III held an emergency meeting of disaster-response agencies and ordered steps to prevent panic-buying and hoarding of goods.

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Gallery: The most powerful images of Haiyan's destruction

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He checked on the readiness of Philippine air force aircraft, hospitals and police contingency plans, amid fears of a repeat of the looting that happened in Tacloban after Haiyan crippled the city's police force.

"I think we've been challenged worse by Yolanda," Mr Aquino said, referring to Haiyan's local name.

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