150,000 take shelter as typhoon rocks Philippines

More than 150,000 people took shelter in coastal provinces of the Philippines on Monday as powerful Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in a region hit by some of the country's deadliest storms.

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The typhoon, with winds of 150 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 205 kph, made first contact in Dinagat Islands province, part of the Visayas island chain, before II pm (1500 GMT), the national weather service said.

Barely an hour earlier, 34-year-old Miriam Vargas sat in the darkness with her two children after the storm knocked out their electricity.

"As of now, there is strong rain and winds starting. We're sitting on the stairs and praying while trying to gauge the typhoon's strength," the single mother told AFP from Dinagat.