Super Typhoon Haiyan, a typhoon considered to be the most powerful ever to hit land, swept across the central islands of Philippines with its winds close to 200 mph on late Friday, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their homes and killing four people so far.

In a speech Thursday, President Benigno S. Aquino III warned residents of the "calamity our countrymen will face in these coming days," and appealed to people in Haiyan's path to evacuate from danger spots, such as river banks, coastal villages and mountain slopes.

"This is a very real danger, and we can mitigate and lessen its effects if we use the information available to prepare," the president said. According to Aquino, the authorities had aircraft ready to respond, and the officials placed relief supplies in the areas that were expected to get hit.

Haiyan, also known in the Philippines as Yolanda, scoured the northern tip of Cebu Province, retaining much of its force as it headed west towards the tourist destination of Boracay Island with sustained winds of 155 mph and gusts as high as 195 mph, after lashing the islands of Leyte and Samar. This puts the typhoon above the threshold for a category 5, the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

According to Jeff Masters, a hurricane expert and director of meteorology at U.S. Weather Underground, the winds thought to be up to 195 mph when it hit land would make Haiyan the "strongest tropical cyclone on record to make landfall."

Typhoon Haiyan was so large in diameter that, at one point, its clouds were affecting two-thirds of the country, which stretched more than 1,150 miles. Tropical storm winds extended 150 miles from the typhoon's center.

The typhoon forced almost 720,000 people to evacuate and killed four people already. Two people were electrocuted by toppled power lines, while a third victim was struck by lightening. Another person was crushed by a tree.

Roger Mercado, governor of Southern Leyte said the gigantic storm had set off landslides that blocked roads, uprooted trees and tore roofs off houses around his residence.

"When you're faced with such a scenario, you can only pray, and pray and pray," he said. Mercado also mentioned that he had received no word from mayors in the area, "I hope that means they were spared and not the other way around. My worst fear is there will be massive loss of lives and property."

Death toll is expected to rise sharply as communications in the worst affected areas are cut off, and the emergency services are unable to immediately contact the people. Also, the immense strength of Haiyan simply makes the people vulnerable. "We have put rescue teams and equipment at different places, but at the moment we can't really do much because of the heavy rain and strong winds. There is no power," Philippine Red Cross chief Gwendolyn Pang said.

The latest forecast from the warning center shows that Super Typhoon Haiyan is expected to exit the Philippines on Saturday and move towards the South China Sea for the next couple of days, where it could become even stronger and threaten both Vietnam or China, with its winds estimated at about 120 mph.