Millions of people in the Philippine capital braced for the worst on Monday as a major storm churned toward the city after killing at least 21 people and destroying thousands of homes on remote islands.

Hagupit, weakened from a typhoon as it moved slowly across the central Philippines, fueling cautious optimism the disaster-weary nation may avoid another calamity involving hundreds of deaths.

In metropolitan Manila, a sprawling coastal city of 12 million people that regularly endures deadly flooding, well-drilled evacuation efforts went into full swing as forecasters warned of heavy rain beginning at dusk.

"We are on 24-hour alert for floods and storm surges. ... It's the flooding that we are worried about," Joseph Estrada, mayor of Manila told AFP.

Thousands of people, mostly the city's poorest residents who live in shanty homes along the coast and rivers, crammed into schools and other government evacuation centers across the city on Monday.

Schools were suspended, the stock market was closed, many office and government workers were told to stay at home and dozens of commercial flights were canceled.

Massive effort

The preparations were part of a massive effort led by President Benigno Aquino to ensure minimum casualties after 7,350 people died when super typhoon Haiyan devastated large parts of the central Philippines in November last year.

Millions of people in communities directly in the path of Hagupit at the weekend were sent to evacuation centers.

The storm, the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, with wind gusts of 210 kilometers per hour when it made landfall, caused massive destruction in remote farming and fishing towns.

Thousands of homes were destroyed, power lines were torn down, landslides choked roads and floodwaters up to one story deep flowed through some towns.

Hagupit claimed at least 21 lives, with 18 of those deaths on Samar, where the storm made landfall, according to Philippine Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang.

Sixteen people died in Borongan, a main city that faces the Pacific Ocean about 50 km south of where Hagupit struck, Pang said.

She said it was impossible to say whether the death toll would climb, with full damage assessments from some areas that were hit yet to come in and the storm still traveling across the country.

Delia Monleon, mayor of Jipapad, a town of 7,000 people, said floodwaters were preventing people from getting to their homes.

"Our problem is power. Food is a problem because boats cannot leave," Monleon said. "It was flooded yesterday, so we can't leave to look for food," she said.

In Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people that was one of the worst hit during Haiyan, authorities said there were no casualties over the weekend despite fierce winds that destroyed homes.

"There is a collective sigh of relief. ... We were better prepared after Yolanda," Tacloban vice-mayor Jerry Yaokasin said on Sunday, referring to Haiyan by its Philippine name.

AFP - AP - Xinhua

(China Daily 12/09/2014 page12)