A t least three people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes as a typhoon ripped through the central Philippines, the country's disaster agency said. Typhoon Kalmaegi has flooded large areas, including entire towns on the island of Cebu.

At least five people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced as rains driven by Typhoon Kalmaegi flooded swathes of the central Philippines on Tuesday.

Typhoon Kalmaegi is on a collision course with Leyte island, bringing 120-kilometre (75-mile) per hour winds and gusts of up to 150 kph, according to the national weather service.