At least 100 people are presumed dead in Tacloban City, according to Reuters, as one of the most powerful-ever tropical cyclones based on wind speed has moved over the Central Philippines. The death toll expected to rise, authorities said.

Super Typhoon Haiyan has caused at least 100 deaths in the Philippines, according to a senior government official.

Huiyan hit the Filipino island of Samar Friday, forcing millions to flee the area.

Haiyan is billed as the strongest – by wind speed – storm ever to hit land, with sustained wind gusts of 170 mph (275 kph), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The storm is moving out of the Philippines after devastating property, triggering landslides and floods and power and communications on multiple islands.

Captain John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, reported bodies in the streets in the central city of Tacloban.

Power and communications in the three large island provinces of Samar, Leyte and Bohol were almost completely down Friday.

“[The storm] is very powerful,” Roger Mercado, governor of Southern Leyte province, told DZBB radio. “We lost power and all roads are impassable because of fallen trees. We just have to pray.”

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