Super typhoon hits Philippines

Super typhoon Haiyan, the world's strongest cyclone this year, hit the Philippines early Friday with gusts of 275 kilometers (171 miles) per hour, the state weather service said. Haiyan was over the island of Samar, about 600 kilometers Southeast of Manila, after making landfall at the coastal town of Guiuan at 4:40 a.m. (2040 GMT Thursday), state meteorologist Romeo Cajulis told AFP. President Benigno Aquino had on Thursday warned his countrymen to make all possible preparations for Haiyan, which was packing monster wind gusts of nearly 380 kilometers (235 miles) an hour as it approached the Philippines. Aquino warned areas within the expected 600-kilometer typhoon front would be exposed to severe flooding as well as devastating winds, while coastal areas may see waves six meters (20 feet) high. More than 125,000 people in the most vulnerable areas had been moved to evacuation centers before Haiyan hit, according to the civil defense office, and millions of others braced for the typhoon in their homes.