Christmas turned to chaos for many holiday observers in the central Philippines as a typhoon with strong winds and heavy rains destroyed homes, cut off power and stranded travellers, disaster officials said on Wednesday.

Typhoon Phanfone was packing maximum sustained winds of 120kmph with gusts up to 150kmph when it made landfall in the eastern province of Samar on Tuesday.

More than 4,000 people have been evacuated in the Eastern Visayas region of the central Philippines. No deaths have been reported. Reuters