With funeral companies overwhelmed, a flood-hit Philippine city has organised the first mass burial of some of nearly 700 people killed in one of worst calamities to strike the region in decades.

The death toll from storm-triggered flash floods that devastated a wide swathe of the southern Philippines has risen to 521, the Philippine Red Cross said today.

Typhoon Nanmadol began blowing toward Taiwan today after leaving at least 10 people dead and scuttling a visit by a US Navy carrier group in the Philippines, officials said.

At least 40 people have been killed after Tropical Storm Ketsana dumped more than 16 inches (40 centimetres) of rain on the Philippine capital, Manila, in just 12 hours, officials said today.

Officials in the Philippines refused to give up hope of rescuing some of the 800 people missing after a ferry capsized during Typhoon Fengshen, even as high seas stalled efforts to get inside the vessel today.

Big waves set off by a storm battered provinces along the Philippines’ western coast overnight, sending more than 5,000 people fleeing, some falsely thinking there was a tsunami, officials said today.

Typhoon Durian smashed into the Philippines with heavy rains and winds gusting up to 165 mph, spawning flash floods and sending walls of muddy volcanic ash and red-hot boulders crashing down on several villages, officials said today.

The fourth devastating super typhoon in as many months has battered the Philippines, setting off a volcanic mudslide and widespread flooding that killed at least 109 people and left dozens more missing, officials said today.

Vietnam began evacuating more than 180,000 people from its central coast as powerful Typhoon Xangsane approached from the Philippines, where it left at least 63 people dead and about 70 missing, officials said today.

At least 18 miners were killed and dozens of others were feared dead following an explosion inside a gold mine in the southern Philippines, officials said today.

After days of wading through mud and floodwaters, exhausted residents today scrambled for a seat on a helicopter or a ferry to escape coastal villages ravaged by back-to-back storms that killed at least 568 people and left as many missing.

Philippine officials are seeking international help to rebuild villages devastated by back-to-back storms that left more than 1,100 people either dead or missing and devastated mostly poor northern agricultural regions.

Rescuers scrambled today to reach scores of people left stranded by a powerful typhoon that sliced through the Philippines on the heels of a rainstorm that killed more than 420 people with possibly hundreds more missing.

Winds and rain from an approaching typhoon hampered rescue efforts today in the eastern Philippines, where at least 350 people died in flash floods and landslides in the storm-weary region.

The death toll from landslides and flash floods in the eastern Philippines has jumped to nearly 350, with 150 others missing, most in a region still reeling from last week’s deadly typhoon.

A passenger train has derailed and tumbled into a ravine, killing at least 10 people and injuring 120, Philippine officials said today.

Rescuers battled rain, mud and floodwaters today to search for more than 100 people believed buried under tons of earth and debris and feared dead after landslides and huge waves devastated eastern Philippine villages, officials said.

Landslides and floods have killed about 80 people in the southern and central Philippines, following several days of rain, officials said today.