MANILA, Philippines - Shortly after super typhoon "Yolanda" made landfall in Guiuan, Eastern Samar early Friday, communications in the area went down.
Rey Gozon, head of the Office of Civil Defense in Region 8, said that they tried communicating with local officials in Guiuan at around 5 a.m. to get an update on the situation in the municipality.
"We cannot contact Guiuan," Gozon said in a radio interview.
The super typhoon was stronger, packing maximum sustained winds of 235 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 275 kph, when it made landfall in Guiuan town at around 4:40 a.m.
As of this posting, the center of the typhoon was over Tacloban City.
A total of 21 areas in Visayas have been placed under public storm warning signal number 4.
Thousands of families have been preemptively evacuated in the areas that will be affected by the super typhoon, which has been described by international weather forecasting agencies as the world's strongest in 2013.