Philippines storm death toll rises

At least 86 people have been killed and 32 more are missing after a tropical storm caused the worst flooding to hit the Philippines for 40 years.

It is feared the death toll could increase significantly as rescue workers come to terms with the scale of the disaster.

The flooding came after tropical storm Ketsana tore through the northern Philppines on Saturday. The Philippine defence secretary, Gilbert Teodoro, estimated that 435,000 people had been displaced by the storm.

He told a press conference that the official death toll did not include a reported 95 fatalities in Antipolo City, east of the capital, Manila, and Marikina City and Quezon City, two of the northern municipalities of metropolitan Manila.

Ketsana dumped more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours, swamping entire towns, sparking landslides and leaving neighbourhoods in the capital, Manila, under water.

Amateur video footage showed cars swirling in the water like driftwood. Stranded passengers waited to be rescued on the roof of one car.

The government declared a "state of calamity" in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces, allowing officials to use emergency funds for relief and rescue.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the president, today opened up the presidential palace as an emergency centre for victims.

She said the storm and the flooding were "an extreme event" that "strained our response capabilities to the limit but ultimately did not break us".

Joselito Mendoza, the governor of Bulacan province, north of the capital, said: "People drowned in their own houses."

Ronald Manlangit, a 30-year-old resident of the Manila suburb of Marikina, said: "We're back to zero. "Suddenly, all of our belongings were floating. If the water rose farther, all of us in the neighbourhood would have been killed."

TV footage taken from a military helicopter yesterday showed survivors marooned on top of half-submerged passenger buses and rooftops in suburban Manila.

Some were clinging to power lines while others plodded through waist-high waters.