Philippines typhoon could be 'largest ever'

The typhoon which has torn through the Philippines could become the largest in recorded history - at least twice the size of the storm which hit pockets of Britain last month.

Typhoon Haiyan has left a trail of destruction in its wake across the islands, setting off landslides and triggering blackouts in provinces. At least four people are thought to have died, with hundreds of thousands being forced to flee their homes.

Experts reckon the typhoon will continue to rumble inland and west towards Laos over the weekend, before fizzling out with heavy rain storms.

Paul Knightley, forecast manager at MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, described Haiyan as "one of the strongest typhoons ever seen before on the planet in the modern age".

He said: "Sustained winds are hitting landfall at around 190mph then gusting over 230mph.

"It is an incredibly powerful storm, which has now moved through the Philippines. No doubt we will see all sorts of damage has been caused."

He said the storm was significantly stronger than St Jude, where a 17-year-old girl was among four people killed as hurricane-force winds battered England and Wales in October, leaving a trail of destruction.

Dubbed St Jude after the patron of lost causes, the storm caused transport disruption on road, rail, air and sea, and power cuts for hundreds of thousands of homes.

Mr Knightley said: "As far as tropical storms go, this (Haiyan) is about the top of the ladder.

"To get winds approaching 200mph as an average wind speed within the storm - you're talking the top few percent of all storms that have ever occurred. It may be one of the - if not the - strongest land-falling storm we've seen for many years, possibly in recorded history.

"The types of storms we tend to get in this country tend to be quite large, but the wind speeds are much lower. Yes, we had some high winds and very exposed parts of the south saw winds of nearly 100mph. But this (Haiyan) is a completely different league - over 120mph higher than the average gusts we saw in England.

"The damage that this storm could do is hugely greater than the storm we had last month."

The Philippines, which is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms a year, has in recent years become more serious about preparations to reduce deaths. Public service announcements are more frequent, as are warnings issued by the president and high-ranking officials, regularly carried on radio, TV and social networking sites.