Typhoon Bopha smashed into the southern Philippines today, uprooting trees and bringing drenching rains as more than 40,000 people crammed into shelters to escape the storm's onslaught. Bopha, packing gusts of up to 210 kilometres an hour, made landfall on Mindanao's east coast at dawn, raking across the island of 10 million people. According to residents, it uprooted trees and blew off roofs made of light materials, with cities plunged into darkness after authorities cut power supplies.
Aviation and shipping were suspended, with 80 flights grounded and thousands of ferry passengers stranded as the coastguard ordered vessels to stay in port. The civil defence office said more than 41,000 people had moved into nearly 1,000 government shelters across the island by early today. It said large of Mindanao were without power after supplies were shut down to cut the risk of fires and electrocutions. The commercial centre of Cagayan de Oro, one of Mindanao's largest cities, was hit by flooding as rivers overflowed following heavy rain. Schools were shut in Mindanao and across large areas of the central Philippines.