The government on Thursday shut down schools and offices - except those urgently needed for disaster response - for the second day on the entire main island of Luzon to protect millions of people after Tropical Storm Trami slammed into the country's northeastern province of Isabela after midnight.
The storm was blowing over Aguinaldo town in the mountain province of Ifugao after dawn with sustained winds up to 95km/hand gusts up to 160km/h. It was blowing westward and was forecast to enter the South China Sea later on Thursday, according to state forecasters.
Rescuers carry a Philippines resident to safety after floods caused by Tropical Storm Trami. (AP PHOTO)
At least 24 people died, mostly due to drowning in the hard-hit Bicol region and nearby Quezon province but the toll was expected to rise as towns and villages isolated by flooding and roads blocked by landslides and toppled trees manage to send out reports, police and provincial officials said.
Most of the storm deaths were reported in the six-province Bicol region, southeast of Manila, where at least 20 people died, including seven residents in Naga city, which was inundated by flash floods as Trami was approaching on Tuesday, dumping more than two months' worth of rainfall in just 24 hours at high tide, regional police chief Brigadier-General Andre Dizon and other officials said.
While thousands of villagers, who were trapped in floodwaters, have been rescued by government forces, many more needed to be saved Thursday in the Bicol region, including some on roofs. About 1500 police officers have been deployed for disaster-mitigation work, Dizon said.
"We can't rescue them all at once because there are so many and we need additional motorboats," Dizon told The Associated Press.
"We're looking for ways to deliver food and water to those who were trapped but could not be evacuated right away."
Flash floods swept away and submerged cars in some parts of Naga city while mudflows from Mayon, one of the country's 24 active volcanoes, in nearby Albay province, engulfed several vehicles, Dizon said.
Stormy weather remained in the region, hampering relief efforts, officials said.
The government's disaster-mitigation agency said more than two million people were affected by the storm, including 75,400 villagers who were displaced from their homes and are sheltering on safer ground.
About 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines each year. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7300 people dead or missing and flattened entire villages.
