Philippines storm claims more than 600 lives

The search for survivors goes on in the southern Philippines after floods and landslides claimed more than six hundred lives, according to the country’s Red Cross.

The organisation says hundreds of people are still missing.

Towns and villages were ripped apart when a typhoon, since downgraded to a tropical storm, battered Mindanao Island late on Friday as locals slept in their beds.

Many of the victims were from the port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

The government says some 100,000 people have been displaced.

Survivors in the hardest-hit areas are now struggling with power cuts and a lack of clean drinking water.

Aid workers are appealing for drinking water, food and dry clothes for those affected.

A warning was issued by the country’s national weather bureau three days ago but residents chose to ignore it.

Typhoons and tropical storms rarely cause flooding in this part of the Philippines.

The southeast Asian country is hit by an average of 20 such storms each year.

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