Super typhoon Mangkhut battered the Philippines on Saturday. It's the biggest storm to hit the region this year, and has killed eight people so far though authorities worry that number will rise. Torrential downpours have triggered at least 42 landslides. Roughly four-million people -- many of who live on a few dollars a day -- were in the wake of the storm as it slammed Luzon island. CGTN's Barnaby Lo was there, in the middle of the storm, and has this report.

The forecast was dire. At sea, as it was approaching the Philippines, Super Typhoon Mangkhut developed into what was the most powerful storm on Earth this year. When it finally hit the country's northeastern region early Saturday morning, there was no denying its destructive force.

BARNABY LO TUGUEGARAO CITY, PHILIPPINES "Typhoon Mangkhut is definitely here. I don't know if you can see, right behind me, just how strong the winds are. It is a strong typhoon, definitely. It's not knocking me down, but okay. I have to tell you this is one of the strongest typhoons that I have seen and experienced."

It went on for hours and hours and hours. Darkness turned into daylight, but the typhoon wasn't done. Mangkhut lashed almost half of the Philippines, but it was the country's northern tip that bore the brunt. In the days ahead of the typhoon's landfall, officials had said the government was ready for the worst case scenario.

ARTHUR TUGADE, SECRETARY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION "You know, many times in the past, there was just a reactionary approach. In the time of President Duterte, we are taught how to be proactive. In fact, so proactive that in my department we started talking on how to address the situation as it occurs since Monday."

Thousands of residents in the path of the typhoon had fled to safety, but there was fear that no amount of preparation would be enough.

"We are afraid. We're very much afraid."

Roads in Tuguegarao City, one of the most densely populated areas in the region, were littered with debris in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Little damage for a monster typhoon, but the fear is that that may just be the tip of the iceberg. Barnaby Lo, CGTN, Tuguegarao City in the Northern Philippines.