MANILA (Reuters):

At least five people were feared dead and tens of thousands spent the night in makeshift shelters as Typhoon Utor ploughed through the central Philippines yesterday, cutting power and communication lines in the archipelago.

The storm, bringing winds of about 120km per hour (75mph) and gusts of up to 150kph, hit Samar and Masbate islands overnight, forcing residents of coastal and low-lying areas to seek higher ground.

The Philippines' National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said two people were confirmed dead, including a one-year-old girl whose house was pinned by a fallen tree in Capiz province.

Evacuated from homes

Three residents of Roxas City, also in Capiz, were feared dead after they reportedly drowned. The NDCC, however, listed the three as missing, as their bodies had not been found.

Authorities evacuated more than 90,000 residents, most of them in Albay province, where villages were wiped out by Typhoon Durian last week, when its winds and rain sent tonnes of mud and water crashing from Mount Mayon, an active volcano, leaving more than 1,000 people feared dead.

The NDCC said nearly 9,000 passengers were also stranded in ports as inter-island ferries stopped operations due to rough seas. It said power was knocked out in wide areas in the Visayas region.

The typhoon passed just north of Boracay, a popular tourist destination known for its white sand beaches.

Typhoon to intensify

Utor, which brought rain to Manila, is expected to head out to the South China Sea during the next 48 hours on a path that could take it towards northern Vietnam or south China and Hong Kong.

"We expect the typhoon to intensify as it heads over the South China Sea," said Nathaniel Cruz, head of weather forecasting at the Philippines' national weather bureau.

Utor could strengthen to a Category Five super typhoon - with winds of more than 250 kph - over the sea and is forecast to slam into coastal regions in the north-west of the South China Sea by Friday, according to www.tropical stormrisk.com.