Typhoon Hagupit slammed into the Philippines on Saturday, bringing torrential rains, threatening catastrophic damage and underscoring the risks brought by storms expected to become more frequent in a warming climate.

Known locally as Typhoon Ruby, Hagupit made landfall in Dolores, Eastern Samar, at 9:15 pm local time with 125 mph winds. The Weather Channel reports that the storm brings “potentially life-threatening winds, storm surge and flash floods.”

Meteorologist Jeff Masters writes that “Hagupit is a very large and intense storm, and will be slow to weaken.” He adds:

Over half a million people were evacuated in advance of the storm’s arrival.

Among those seeking shelter are residents from Tacloban, which was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013.

“People are very, very nervous,” Idalia Amaya, the acting program manager for Catholic Relief Services’ shelter program in Tacloban, told the New York Times. “It’s just after the one-year anniversary, so people are very traumatized. So they’re taking it very seriously. A lot of families lost loved ones, and everyone was impacted.”

Thirty-six-year old Alma Gaut, who lost her mother in Haiyan, spoke to Agence-France Presse from a shelter in Talcoban. “We are afraid. People are panicking,” she said.