Thousands of villagers in the Philippines were relocated as the year's most powerful storm moved toward the country on Thursday.

Super typhoon Haiyan had wind speeds of up to 170 mph and was rated as an exceptionally strong Category 5 hurricane early Thursday, according to the Weather Channel. Meteorologist Michael Palmer warned that the storm was likely to cause widespread devastation and "a significant loss of life."

The storm, which is known as Yolanda in the Philippines, was moving toward the Philippines from the west in the Pacific Ocean and is expected to make landfall around noon local time on Friday or 11 p.m. ET Thursday between the central islands of Samar and Leyte, reports CNN.

Once leaving the Philippines, Haiyan is expected to lose strength and go on to hit Vietnam with wind speeds of up to 125 mph on Saturday and Sunday, Palmer added.

"It's a very poor country and there is not really any place for these people to go because they are on an island," Palmer said. "There was a similar typhoon that struck in 1990 which killed 700 people so you are going to see that here, maybe even worse."

Authorities moved more than 3,800 people to evacuation centers by late Thursday, Maj. Reynaldo Balido of the Philippine Office of Civil Defense said according to CNN.

In a speech Thursday, President Benigno S. Aquino III gave an austere warning for residents about the "calamity our countrymen will face in these coming days."

"Let me repeat myself: This is a very real danger, and we can mitigate and lessen its effects if we use the information available to prepare," he said.