KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1: Super Typhoon Goni hit on Sunday the main island of Luzon, killing at least four people, while thousands of residents in the affected areas evacuated to various centers, regional officials in the Philippines said.

Four deaths were in Albay province in the Bicol region, where the typhoon made landfall twice, Governor Al Francis Bichara told DZMM radio.
This afternoon, Typhoon Goni moved towards Batangas and Cavite provinces, south of the capital, Manila, where catastrophic winds blew and torrential rains fell, the Philippine Met Office mentioned in a statement.
Consequently, about 347,000 people were shifted to various evacuation centers, Ricardo Jalad, head of the government's disaster response agency, indicated in a similar statement.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was monitoring the government's response to the disaster from his hometown southern Davao city, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque explained.
Video footage by news channels and on social media showed storms in some coastal towns and overflowed rivers, which demolished dikes, flooding villages in the Bicol region.

The hurricane calmed down after making its third landfall in southern Luzon, but the Met Office warned about the arrival of Tropical Storm Atsani in the country.

Goni is one of the most powerful typhoons to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Haiyan killed over 6,300 people in 2013.
A week before Goni, Typhoon Molave struck the Philippines and killed 22 people, most of them in southern Manila provinces.(KUNA) --