A powerful typhoon has wrecked houses, caused towering tidal surges and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to emergency shelters as it barreled across the northern Philippines.

A powerful typhoon wrecked houses, caused towering tidal surges and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to emergency shelters as it cut across the northern Philippines on Sunday in the sixth major storm to hit the country in less than a month.

MANILA: Super Typhoon Man-yi slammed into the Philippines' most populous island on Sunday (Nov 17), with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation.