Typhoon Haiyan is pictured in this NOAA satellite handout image taken November 6, 2013 at 23:13 UTC. The Philippines evacuated coastal areas and put emergency workers on alert on Wednesday as a storm expected to grow into a super typhoon headed towards central islands still recovering from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit last month. [Photo/Agencies]

In September, another category-five storm, typhoon Usagi, with central winds of 205 kph and gusts of up to 240 kph, battered the northern island of Batanes before causing damage in southern China.

Bopha, last year's strongest storm, flattened three coastal towns on the southern island of Mindanao, killing 1,100 people and wreaking damage estimated at $1.04 billion.