WATCH: Rare footage of storm surge destroying house in seconds

MANILA, Philippines - An international children's organization released an eyewitness' footage of the massive storm surge that inundated Hernani town in Eastern Samar.

In the video from Plan International, a house devoured by the rush of water from the ocean as super-typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) was slamming onto the Visayas region.

The footage was taken at 6 a.m. on Friday, November 8 by Plan staff member Nickson Gensis from the second floor of a house less than a few hundred meters from the sea.

"Six of us took refuge on the top floor of a boarding house. Five were praying and I was filming. The others called me to pray with them but I said that I needed to document this," Gensis recounted.

"It was like a huge tsunami but the water receded quickly afterwards. We ventured downstairs and outside around noon. I took shots of the boarding house we had been in because I was so thankful that it protected me," he continued.