The Philippines evacuated tens of thousands of people from their homes and cancelled dozens of flights on Saturday, as a super typhoon threatened to unleash heavy rains and powerful winds that could trigger floods and storm surges.

A super typhoon sweeping towards the Philippines on Saturday was intensifying and could have a "potentially catastrophic" impact, the state weather forecaster warned, with millions of people at risk from storm surges.

A powerful storm sweeping towards the Philippines intensified into a super typhoon on Saturday, the state weather forecaster said,