At least three people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes as Typhoon Kalmaegi ripped through the central Philippines, according to the country's disaster agency.
The typhoon has flooded large areas, including entire towns on the island of Cebu. Videos show people sheltering on rooftops, while cars and shipping containers have been swept through the streets.
A military helicopter deployed to assist relief efforts crashed in northern Mindanao island, though survival details remain unclear.
Typhoon Kalmaegi, locally named Tino, has weakened since making landfall early on Tuesday but continues to deliver winds exceeding 80 mph (130 km/h).
Forecasts indicate it will continue across the Visayas islands region and out over the South China Sea by Wednesday.
Provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro described the situation in Cebu as unprecedented, stating, We were expecting the winds to be the dangerous part, but... the water is what's truly putting our people at risk. The floodwaters are just devastating.
Among those impacted is Don del Rosario,27, who expressed that this storm was the worst he had experienced in his 28 years in Cebu City.
The Philippine Air Force stated that communication with the downed helicopter was lost, triggering a search and rescue operation.
In total, nearly 400,000 individuals were evacuated from affected areas, according to Rafaelito Alejandro, deputy administrator at the Office of Civil Defence.
The Philippines experiences around 20 storms and typhoons each year. This recent disaster follows just weeks after other typhoons resulted in over a dozen deaths and significant damage to infrastructure and agriculture, following an exceedingly wet monsoon season that sparked protests over flood control system failures.
On September 30, numerous people were killed and injured after a powerful earthquake struck the central Philippines, severely impacting Cebu.
