Super Typhoon Mangkhut slams Philippines with Category 5 power

Families gather inside the temporary evacuation center at Balzain East Elementary School ahead of Typhoon Mangkhut’s arrival in Tuguegarao, Cagayan province, the Philippines, on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. Philippines authorities  evacuated thousands of people in the path of Super Typhoon Mangkhut to safer grounds hours before the cyclone slams into the country’s northern provinces. (Photo: Carlo Gabuco/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) – Super Typhoon Mangkhut slammed into the Philippines early Saturday morning, after thousands of people moved to safer ground ahead of landfall by the strongest storm in the world this year.

The Category 5 storm had top winds of 167 miles (269 kilometers) per hour, with gusts as high as 201 miles per hour, when it was about 245 miles northeast of Manila, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest report. Forecasters expect Mangkhut to head toward the Hong Kong area and South China.