A powerful typhoon that has killed hundreds of people and wreaked devastation in the Philippines was set to smash into the country again Sunday, forecasters warned.

A powerful typhoon that has killed hundreds of people and wreaked devastation in the Philippines was set to smash into the country again Sunday, forecasters warned.

Typhoon Bopha had looked to be heading away after destroying whole communities in the south, but the official weather agency said it had unexpectedly turned and would hit again in the early hours, this time in the north.

The agency urged people on Saturday to prepare for fierce winds of up to 160 kilometres (about 100 miles) an hour and heavy rains when the storm slams into the northern tip of the main island of Luzon.

The surprise development piles more pressure on a country that has called for international aid for the south, where floods and landslides sparked by Bopha have flattened whole villages and left tens of thousands of people homeless.