Manila: Search and rescue teams on Sunday struggled to reach areas of the northern Philippines cut off by storm-triggered landslides and flooding that have left more than 600 people dead, officials said.
In the heavily-damaged northern province of Pangasinan, many towns remained under water while landslides had virtually cut off mountainous communities from rescuers, disaster relief officials said.
There have given varying reports of casualties, but the police in the Cordillera Administrative Region, which includes several provinces hit with deadly landslides, said the death toll there alone had reached over 221 on Sunday.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council in Manila placed the official toll at 193 from tropical storm Parma, which finally blew out into the South China Sea late Friday after pummelling northern Luzon for a week.
Altogether the death toll from Parma and tropical storm Ketsana, which killed 337 in Manila and surrounding areas, stands at 636, according to the civil defence office, with fears the toll could rise.
Ketsana triggered the worst flooding in Manila and nearby areas in four decades on September 26, and many areas still remain flooded two weeks later.
Both storms affected over six million people, with over 300,000 people remaining in evacuation camps.
Many highways remained impassable to all types of vehicles in the provinces of Tarlac and Pangasinan, with flood waters unable to empty out into the Lingayen Gulf to the west of Luzon because of high tides.
Spokesman Butch Velasco of Pangasinan province said the death toll there had reached 11 "but there may be many others that have not yet been reported".
"Our rescue operations are continuing by land and air using helicopters and rubber boats," he told local radio, appealing for more help for the province.
Television footage shot by rescuers showed houses, malls and factories submerged in a vast sea of brown water, with rescuers plucking survivors off trees and rooftops the past two days.
The flooding was largely due to heavy rains and water released by the authorities from two dams that were in danger of bursting.
In the Cordillera region, meanwhile, roads and bridges were destroyed by a deadly cocktail of mud and rocks, while houses lay in ruins.
Mud-streaked residents carrying belongings were shown dangerously negotiating a muddy cliff that was once a mountain pass.
Parts of the popular mountain resort of Baguio, where President Gloria Arroyo maintains a retreat house, was also flooded with run-off water from the slopes.
"The status of major roads leading to Baguio is still impassable," Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said.
Officials had earlier appealed for medicines, food, water and dogs trained to find corpses to help locate those still buried in the debris in northern areas.
Bureau Report
