Search for survivors in aftermath of Philippines floods

At least 650 have died after floods hit the southern Philippines, according to the country's Red Cross.

The organisation put the death toll at 652 people, mostly children and women, and said 808 others remained missing in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Washi.

Survivors in Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan continued to search for missing relatives, while others scrambled through the mud to recover their possessions from flooded homes and shops.

Army officers reported unidentified bodies piled up in morgues in Cagayan de Oro, where electricity was restored in some areas, although the city of more than 500,000 people remained without tap water.

Government officials flew to Cagayan de Oro on Sunday to help oversee search-and-rescue efforts and deal with thousands of displaced villagers.

Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilised for rescue efforts, but they were hampered by the flooded-out roads and lack of electricity.

There are fears that the death toll could rise as many villages on the island of Mindanao remain isolated and rescue workers have not yet reached them.

Many of the victims were asleep on Friday night when the equivalent of a month's rain fell in 12 hours.

Mountainsides were stripped bare as floodwater cascaded down into towns and villages, carrying logs, uprooted trees and torrents of mud.

Flash floods and landslides swept houses into rivers and out to sea.

The Mindanao region is unaccustomed to the typhoons that are common to the north of the Philippine archipelago.