Typhoon Haima takes direct aim at Hong Kong after killing at least eight people in the Philippines

SCHOOLS have been closed and flights cancelled — including to and from Australia — as a massive storm hits Hong Kong after it battered The Philippines.

Hong Kong has raised a storm warning as Typhoon Haima bears down. Picture: Supplied

SCHOOLS have been closed and flights cancelled as a massive storm takes direct aim at Hong Kong with winds of 145km/h and torrential rain.

The Hong Kong Observatory says that although Typhoon Haima has weakened slightly, it continues to move closer to Hong Kong, and still poses a substantial threat to the territory.

Local winds are strengthening gradually, and the outer rainbands of Haima have also begun to affect Hong Kong.

Flights are expected to be heavily impacted today as Haima moves closer to the coast, including flights to and from Australia.

Cathay Pacific and Qantas have already cancelled a number of services including Cathay Pacific flight 162 and Qantas flight 127 due to leave Sydney this morning.

Earlier, Typhoon Haima smashed into the Philippines killing at least eight people as ferocious gales and landslides destroyed tens of thousands of homes.

Haima roared across mountain and farming communities of the northern regions of the main island of Luzon, causing widespread destruction.

A fisherman works on his destroyed fish cages swamped by huge waves brought about by Super Typhoon Haima. Picture: AP

“We were frightened because of the strong winds. There was no power, no help coming,” Jovy Dalupan, 20, told AFP as she sheltered at nightfall on the side of a highway in San Pablo, a badly damaged town of 20,000 people in Isabela province.

Dalupan, her two young daughters and husband, were forced to flee to the highway along with their neighbours during the height of the storm when their shanty homes, made of plywood, were ripped apart.

“We were soaked when the roof flew off, even my little babies got drenched ... all of our clothes were drenched. We have nothing to change into.”

A fisherman fails to catch a nylon cable as he fixes his destroyed home amid flooding. Picture: AP

Haima hit coastal towns facing the Pacific Ocean with sustained winds of 225 kilometres (140 miles) an hour, and wind gusts of up to 315 kilometres an hour.

The governor of Cagayan, a province of 600,000 people neighbouring Isabela where Haima made landfall, said the entire region was without power as he reported widespread destruction.

“Almost every house here has been damaged,” governor Manuel Mamba told ABS CBN television.

President Rodrigo Duterte said all possible preparations had been made for Haima, with tens of thousands of people evacuated, but he still struck an ominous tone.

A resident carries a sack of rice after Super Typhoon Haima destroyed his home and caused flooding at Vigan township. Picture: AP

“We only pray we be spared the destruction such as the previous times, which brought agony and suffering,” Duterte said in Beijing, where he was on a state visit.

“But we are ready. Everything has been deployed.”

About 10 million people across the northern parts of Luzon were at risk, according to the government’s disaster risk management council.

Authorities said two of those killed, aged 16 and 17, were buried in a landslide while sleeping in a house in Ifugao, a mountainous area that is home to stunning rice terraces that are listed by the United Nations as a World Heritage site.

A man takes cover as strong winds and rain topple trees while Typhoon Haima lashes Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, northern Philippines. Picture: AP

Two other people were buried in a shanty in another mountainous region, the disaster risk council’s division in the northern Philippines reported.

At least eight people had been confirmed dead, according to Edgar Allan Tabell, director of the national government’s disaster information co-ordinating centre in Manila.

But with authorities in many devastated areas still unable to report back because of power and communication lines being cut, the death toll was expected to rise.

Young residents carrying a plank of wood walk past a petrol station damaged by super typhoon Haima. Picture: AFP

The Philippine islands are often the first major landmass to be hit by storms that generate over the Pacific Ocean. The Southeast Asian archipelago endures about 20 major storms each year, many of them deadly.

The most powerful and deadliest was Haiyan, which destroyed entire towns in heavily populated areas of the central Philippines in November 2013.

The national capital Manila is about 350 kilometres south of where Haima struck land.

However the city, with about 12 million people, was not affected, hit only by moderate winds overnight and little rain.

Haima was the second typhoon to hit the northern Philippines in a week, after Sarika struck on Sunday claiming at least one life and leaving three people missing.