At least six people dead after powerful typhoon hits the Philippines

The Philippines is on red alert after a powerful typhoon slammed across the northeast of the country.

At least six rescuers have died after being hit by a collapsed wall as they were helping residents trapped in flood waters.

The most powerful typhoon to hit the country this year caused landslides, flash flooding and dangerous storm surges.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the typhoon's path. Many more are still scrambling to move their belongings and livestock to higher ground.

"Many of the people living on the riverside are informal settlers and their homes are made from light materials, so when rains and storms come, they are the first to be affected," said Alex Santos, a village official on the main island of Luzon.

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometres an hour as it charged towards the archipelago nation after an unprecedented "explosive intensification", the state weather forecaster said.

The Philippines is regularly ravaged by storms, with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.

Noru came nine months after another super typhoon devastated swathes of the country, killing more than 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

The typhoon is expected to sweep through the main Luzon Island and into the South China Sea this Monday.

It's on track to hit Vietnam later in the week still maintaining powerful winds.

The Philippines -- ranked among the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change -- is hit by an average of 20 storms every year.