Typhoon Hagupit weakens over Philippines

Typhoon Hagupit has weakened as it continues to slowly sweep across the Philippines, causing some damage, the BBC reported.

At least three people have been killed since the storm made landfall on Saturday but it does not appear to have been as severe as many had feared.

Around a million people have taken shelter in evacuation centres.

But correspondents say Hagupit is nowhere near as powerful as Typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands of people last year.

In Tacloban, badly hit by Typhoon Haiyan, roofs have been blown away by Hagupit and streets are flooded, but the area has escaped the wider devastation of last year.

"There were no bodies scattered on the road, no big mounds of debris,'' Rhea Estuna told the Associated Press by phone from Tacloban. "Thanks to God this typhoon wasn't as violent.''

Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez told the BBC that the immediate task was assessing damage to the temporary shelters in which some people have been living.

He said that the weather was good now but that high tides were making it harder for waterways to drain, despite work to clear debris.

At 04:00 on Monday (20:00 GMT on Sunday), the storm was 110km (70 miles) northwest of Masbate City with maximum sustained winds of 120km/h (75mph) near the centre and gusts of up to 150km/h, government forecaster Pagasa said. It was forecast to move northwest at 10km/h.