Flood-hit Philippines appeals for aid

The Philippines appealed for international help today as the death toll from widespread flooding reached 150 with fears for many more victims.

Rescuers pulled the dead from swollen rivers and thousands were without drinking water, food and power after Tropical Storm Ketsana swept through over the weekend.

Overwhelmed authorities were trying to verify scores of unconfirmed deaths, including in several metropolitan Manila cities and nearby Rizal province, where about 99 more people reportedly died, Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.

As tens of thousands of residents began a massive cleanup and the storm left the Philippines, the extent of devastation became clearer - mud-covered communities, car-choked streets and huge numbers of villagers without drinking water, food and power.

In Manila's suburban Marikina city resident Jeff Aquino said floodwaters rose to his home's third floor at the height of the storm on Saturday, when it dumped more than a month of rain in just 12 hours.

Mr Aquino, his wife, three young children and two nephews spent that night on their roof without food and water, mixing infant formula for his two-year-old twins with the falling rain.

"We thought it was the end for us," he said.

The government has declared a "state of calamity" in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces, including many that have not flooded before, allowing officials to use emergency funds for relief and rescue.

More than 450,000 people were affected by the storm, including some 115,000 brought to about 200 schools, churches and other evacuation shelters, officials said. Troops, police and volunteers have been able to rescue more than 7,900 people so far.

He said government welfare officials have begun focusing on providing food, medicine and other necessities to those in emergency shelters.

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