Super Typhoon Goni makes landfall in the Philippines

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Super Typhoon Goni made landfall with sustained winds of 195 mph in the eastern Phillippines early Sunday. This makes Goni the strongest typhoon to make landfall anywhere on earth since 2013's Super Typhoon Haiyan, which also made landfall in the Philippines.

Goni is locally known as Rolly in the Philippines.

Catastrophic wind gusts are expected in a small area near the landfall area. Damage may be tornado-like.

Goni is expected to rapidly weaken as it moves through the Philippines but could bring typhoon-force winds to parts of the greater Manila metro area on Sunday. Flooding rain, storm surge and high seas are expected to batter the northern and central Philippines through the weekend. Mudslides are expected.

Then, Goni is expected to cross the South China Sea while continuing to weaken as it approaches southern Vietnam.

Only a few storms each year reach the equivalent strength of a super typhoon, those with winds of 160 mph or more. Even fewer have ever attained wind speeds as high as 195 mph.

Goni made landfall on the Philippines' island of Catanduanes with an estimated pressure of 884 mb, which is among the top 15 most intense typhoons in the basin.

This strength has only been tied or surpassed by a handful of storms.

Impressively, this extreme landfall intensity occurs in the same part of the same country where Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall at a similar intensity in 2013. Haiyan caused nearly $2 billion in damages and killed more than 6,300 people.

Comparatively, nearly one million people have evacuated ahead of Goni, which is expected to pass near the country's most populated cities of Manila and Quezon City.