Thousands of people in the Philippines are spending Christmas in temporary shelters on Sunday, as a powerful typhoon approaches the country.

Axar.az reports that, Typhoon Nock-ten can be considered a superstorm packing winds of 180km per hour and squalls of up to 220 km an hour, the National Center for Hydro- meteorological Forecasting said, adding that the storm would reach the East Vietnam Sea on Monday night.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, it should make landfall over the eastern island province of Catanduanes on Christmas afternoon or evening.

The Philippines endures about 20 major storms each year, the most recent and deadly being Typhoon Haiyan which in Nov 2013, left over 7,000 people dead or missing.

The typhoon made a second landfall over Camarines Sur province, then weakened slightly with winds of 175kph but gusts at 290kph, the weather bureau said.

Since Wednesday, all provincial disaster management councils were put on high alert for the worsening weather situation, said Bernardo Rafael Alejandro, OCD-Bicol director and concurrent Bicol Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) chairperson.

The typhoon stranded thousands of passengers as it churned closer to Luzon.