More than 10,000 evacuees sheltered in schools and evacuation centres in the Philippines on Monday as heavy rains and gale-force winds from Super Typhoon Ragasa lashed the country's far north.

The typhoon, which is gaining strength as it proceeds on a collision course with southern China, was expected to make landfall over the Philippines' Babuyan Islands around midday.

Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.