At least 22 people died from a storm that swept through the central Philippine islands at the weekend, according to the authorities. Rescue operations are underway in the flood-inundated communities.
As of yesterday, the death toll was four. The storm brought in heavy rain to Bicol and Eastern Visyas regions, causing heavy flooding and landslides.
Many of the deaths were due to landslides and drowning, it added, saying floods had yet to recede even as the weather disturbance known locally as "Usman" weakened into a low pressure area.
"Most of the (affected) areas are underwater. We are sending troops and rubber boats to rescue families. In some areas the floods have reached the roofs of homes," Claudio Yucot, head of the Bicol region's office of civil defence, said.
At least 16 people died in Bicol while six others were killed in Eastern Visayas, civil defence officials said.
More than 22,000 people fled their homes ahead of the storm, which destroyed rice and corn crops and left some roads and bridges inaccessible, according to regional disaster officials.
3,900 people were evacuated in four Bicol provinces and since travel by sea is suspended, more than 8,000 people were stranded on the ports.
Government forecasters said Sunday that heavy rain would continue over the next 24 hours in the northern Philippines.
An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people and leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty.
The most powerful was Super Typhoon Haiyan which left more than 7,360 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in 2013.
