MANILA: The Philippines' weather bureau warned of life-threatening storm surges of up to 5m and destructive winds as Typhoon Fung-wong churns toward the country's eastern coast, where it is forecast to intensify into a super typhoon before making landfall on Sunday (Nov 9) night.

The typhoon's massive circulation, spanning 1,500 km, is already lashing parts of eastern Philippines with heavy rains and winds, PAGASA weather forecaster Benison Estareja said in a briefing.

"It can cover almost the entire country," Estareja said.

Fung-wong, locally named Uwan, is currently packing maximum sustained winds of 140 km/h and gusts of up to 170 km/h, and could intensify to 185 km/h as it nears land, Estareja said, powerful enough to destroy homes, topple trees and structures.

Up to 200mm of rainfall is expected in eastern Philippine provinces, particularly in the Bicol region, as well as parts of Samar, raising the risk of widespread flooding and landslides, while northern and central Luzon could see 100-200mm rainfall during its passage.

PAGASA urged residents in low-lying and coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground and halt all marine activities, warning of destructive storm surges that could inundate coastal communities, and warned of violent winds.

Several local governments have suspended classes for Monday, and the Philippines' flag carrier has cancelled some flights, ahead of Fung-wong's expected landfall.

In coastal Aurora province, where Fung-wong is expected to make landfall by late Sunday or early Monday morning, rescuers were going door to door encouraging residents to head for higher ground.

"We are preemptively evacuating people in areas that may be high-risk for flooding," provincial rescuer Elson Egargue told AFP by phone.

Farther south, on Catanduanes, a small island the state weather service said could take a"direct hit", residents were tying down their houses and putting weights on their roofs.

"They decided to do our tradition of strapping down the roofs with big ropes and anchoring them on the ground, so they won't be blown away by the wind," provincial rescue official Roberto Monterola told AFP.

The warning comes just days after Typhoon Kalmaegi left a trail of destruction across the region, ripping through coastal communities, toppling trees, and shredding roofs and windows.

Kalmaegi killed 204 people in the Philippines, with 109 still missing, according to the latest government figures.

On Saturday, rescue official Myrra Daven told AFP the approaching storm had forced the suspension of search and rescue activities in Cebu province, home to nearly 70 per cent of Kalmaegi's deaths in the Philippines.

"We were ordered to temporarily stop the search, rescue and retrieval at 3 pm today," she said.

"We cannot risk the safety of our rescuers. We don't want them to be the next casualties."

The government tally of 57 missing in the hard-hit province, meanwhile, would likely rise, Daven said.

"We're expecting this number to increase, because there are still areas we cannot penetrate. Some access routes are still blocked by soil and other things," she said.

At least five more people were killed as Kalmaegi churned across Vietnam on Friday.

Vietnam's disaster agency reported damage to nearly 2,800 homes, and said about 500,000 people remain without electricity.

Vietnam and the Philippines are highly vulnerable to tropical storms and typhoons due to their locations along the Pacific typhoon belt, regularly experiencing damage and casualties during peak storm seasons.

In Thailand, Kalmaegi's lingering impact caused heavy rain and localised flooding in parts of the northeast and central regions.