The Philippines has begun evacuating thousands of people, local officials said Sunday, as a powerful typhoon rumbling in from the Pacific forced Southeast Asian Games organizers to cancel or reschedule some events.

The storm entered Philippine territory Saturday evening, shortly before President Rodrigo Duterte and boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao launched the Games with a colorful opening ceremony.

Forecasters expect Typhoon Kammuri to make landfall Monday evening or Tuesday morning, packing gusts of 170 kilometers per hour (kph) and maximum sustained winds of 140 kph.

This year's Games in Clark, Manila and Subic are already particularly complex, with a record 56 sports across dozens of venues that are in some cases hours apart by car.

Outdoor events in Subic – on the west coast of the main island of Luzon in the country's north – were the first to be affected by Kammuri.

"The windsurfing has been cancelled until we have a more accurate picture of the weather," Ramon Agregado, organizing committee chief for Subic, told AFP.

The women's triathlon event was brought forward to Sunday, Agregado said, "so we could take advantage of the good weather".

Duathlon events scheduled for Tuesday will now take place on Monday.

Agregado said that venues will not be changed, but in the event of bad weather the equipment will be taken down and put back together once events are rescheduled.