The Philippines government has raised the official death toll from the typhoon disaster to 1,744 people, but the final number is expected to be much higher.

Corpses hung from trees, were scattered on sidewalks, or buried in flattened buildings — some of the 10,000 people believed killed in one city alone by the ferocious Typhoon Haiyan that washed away homes and buildings with powerful winds and giant waves.

As many as 10,000 people are believed to have died in one Philippine city alone after one of the worst storms ever recorded unleashed ferocious winds and giant waves that washed away homes and schools.

RESCUERS searched for more than 800 people missing in the southern Philippines yesterday after flash floods and landslides swept houses into rivers and out to sea, killing more than 650 in areas ill-prepared to cope with storms.

Hopes virtually vanished today for finding survivors of typhoon-triggered mudslides that engulfed entire villages in the eastern Philippines, with the Red Cross fearing the death toll could reach 700.