Just weeks after two powerful storms wreaked havoc in the Philippines, the island nation is bracing for yet another super-typhoon which is expected to make collision later this week.

Evacuations and emergency preparations began over the weekend as Typhoon Lupit – a Filipino word for cruel – moved toward the country with winds peaking at 108 miles per hour.

Marking the 18th large storm to hit the islands this year, Lupit comes as the nation continues its recovery from Typhoons Ketsana and Parma, which killed 858 people and flooded the homes of over 7 million.

The storm is expected to hit the northern parts of the country on Thursday, but most likely sparing the nation's capital, Manila, forecasters reported.

Manila was submerged by Ketsana in late September, which caused the worst flooding in the country in 40 years. Typhoon Parma hit just one week later, triggering floods and landslides on the main island of Luzon.

While over 300,000 will weather Lupit from evacuation shelters, fallout from the two previous storms has caused sanitation hazards. An outbreak of leptospirosis, a disease spread by water contaminated with urine of infected animals, has already killed 96 and hospitalized over 1300.

Antibiotics are being distributed by the country's health department to over 1.3 million in high risk areas.

Meanwhile, emergency teams, soldiers and police officers have been positioned for possible rescue and relief efforts in anticipation of Lupit's impact.

"We are all on alert," Philippine National Red Cross secretary general Gwen Pang told AFP.