By Hader Glang and Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY

Pope Francis was forced to cut short a visit to the Philippine city of Tacloban Saturday, where he met those affected by Typhoon Yolanda, as a tropical storm hit.

On the third day of his visit to the Philippines, the pope travelled south to Leyte, where 7,300 people lost their lives to the typhoon just over a year ago.

Tens of thousands braved the pouring rain and strong winds of Tropical Storm Mekkhala to attend an open-air Mass outside nearby Palo cathedral before the storm forced the pontiff to leave four hours earlier than scheduled.

Tacloban City was worst hit when Yolanda struck in November 2013. Across the central Philippines, more than 14 million people were affected in the worst storm ever recorded on land and around 1 million remain homeless.

Clad in a plastic poncho to protect his robes, Francis told the 160,000-strong crowd: "When I saw from Rome the catastrophe, I felt that I had to be here. And on those very days, I decided to come here. I am here to be with you. A little bit late, but I'm here."

The pope had planned to deliver his speech in English but changed to his native Spanish, which is widely understood in the Philippines, the MindaNews website reported.

He added: “So many of you have lost everything. I don’t know what to say to you. But the Lord does know what to say. Some of you lost families. All I can do is keep silent. And I walk with you all in my silent heart.”

The pope had a brief lunch with around 30 survivors of the catastrophe but had to leave as the storm approached, returning to Manila before he could bless a Vatican-funded center for the poor.

"I am sad about this, truly saddened, because I had something prepared especially for you," he told the crowd.

With winds of up to 80 miles per hour (130 kilometers per hour), Mekkhala, known as Amang locally, forced the suspension of ferry services and stranded thousands of travellers.

Following the mass a woman died when scaffolding near the stage collapsed, local media report.

Earlier, well-wishers cheered the pope as he descended from his plane, the wind blowing his skull cap from his head and tearing at his vestments.

Hundreds of thousands of people, many who had travelled from other provinces, lined the streets from the airport to Palo cathedral.

“I feel like I’m contended now that I saw Pope Francis even just for few seconds,” former postman Samuel Enage, 59, told the Philippine News Agency. “I believe this is the only chance in my life to see the highest Roman Catholic leader.”

Pilgrims shouted “I love you Pope Francis” as the ‘popemobile’ briefly stopped outside the residence of the Archbishop of Palo. “Now that the pope is in our village, we are confident that we will be blessed with fast recovery from recent calamities,” Nimfa Pabona, 44, said.

Pope Francis’s tour is the Philippines' first papal visit in 20 years. Around 80 percent of the 100 million population is Roman Catholic, accounting for half of the Church’s followers in Asia.