Typhoon Rammasun has hit the Philippines Wednesday morning local time (Tuesday night EDT), making a landfall near Legazpi city on the country’s east coast late Tuesday. According to CNN, the storm has killed at least five people and prompted as many as 350,000 people to evacuate.

Local news agency Rappler Editor in Chief Maria Ressa said that several roofs had been ripped off by powerful winds.

It was around midnight Tuesday when the government announced one casualty – a person killed by an electrical post that was uprooted. There were four other deaths, including a family of three, in Lucena city and Quezon province, reported the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

CNN notes that the closest the eye of the storm got to Manila was about 25 km south of the city around 7 a.m. Wednesday (7 p.m. Tuesday EST).

Fears on a possible storm surge has eased as the typhoon began moving away from the capital, weakening from a Category 2 storm to a Category 1, bearing maximum sustained winds of about 150 kilometers per hour.

But concerns remain on the knock-on effects of the rain, including flooding and landslides.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that the typhoon expected to affect 43 million people across 22 provinces.

"A Task Force from the humanitarian community was set up to agree on additional measures to enhance our readiness to respond and remains on standby," UNOCHA Humanitarian Coordinator Luiza Carvalho said, CNN reports.

There are around 136,000 households within the affected area in places highly susceptible to landslides and storm surge. Half of these households, the UNOCHA statement adds, totaling 342,2000, are poor. Evacuations for these residents have taken place on a needs basis.

Typhoon Rammasun has cut across the mainland island of the Philippines, hitting numerous population centers across southern and central Luzon. Eleven provinces in total have lost power, CNN notes, though some were cut off for precautionary measures.