Authorities have ordered the evacuation of over 200,000 people in the southern part of the Philippines' main island late Saturday as a Category 5 typhoon -- the world's most powerful so far this year -- barrels towards the country.

Typhoon Goni (local name Rolly) with 215 kilometers per hour sustained winds and gusts of up to 265 kph, is set to make landfall on Sunday as the strongest to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Haiyan that claimed the lives of over 6,300 people in November 2013, the state weather bureau said.

Gone comes a week after Typhoon Molave battered the same region, killing 22 people, mostly through drowning in provinces south of Metro Manila, and submerging low-lying areas and farmland in waist-deep water, before it swept across the South China Sea heading to Vietnam.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) as of 2 p.m. placed Catanduanes Province and parts of Camarines and Albay provinces under Signal No. 3. Winds greater than 121 kph and up to 170 kph are seen to hit these areas starting in at least 18 hours, the weather bureau said.

Goni will be the 18th tropical storm to hit the Philippines so far this year when it makes landfall. It surpasses Hurricane Laura, which was Category 4 at its peak, the Weather Network reported.

Schools that have been vacant since the coronavirus outbreak will be used as emergency shelters as well as government-operated evacuation facilities and gymnasiums. According to Mark Timbal, spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, "It looks like we'll have really strong winds, increasing the chances of widespread flooding and landslides," Philstar News quoted him as saying in an interview with ABS-CBN.

Philippine authorities are facing another problem as social distancing must be carried out in evacuation centers to keep the virus from spreading. The country has the second-highest cases of COVID and fatalities in Southeast Asia, second only to Indonesia.

An average of 20 typhoons batters the Philippines every year, which normally destroys agriculture, homes and properties, adding to the miseries of millions of Filipinos who could hardly get by, especially during the ongoing global health crisis.

Meanwhile, another typhoon -- Atsani -- is expected to enter the Philippines' areas of responsibility (PAR) on Sunday but PAGASA said it may not be as severe over the next three days.

The deadliest typhoon to have ravaged the Philippines was Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), which triggered tsunamis on the central city of Tacloban and rendered over 7,300 people dead or missing in 2013.