Residents bury their dead after Tropical Storm Washi devastates southern Philippines

Flash floods in an area unaccustomed to powerful storms have helped push the death toll into the hundreds, with hundreds more missing.

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Dec. 20, 2011

Relatives mourn during a mass burial for Tropical Storm Washi victims in a cemetery in Iligan city, southern Philippines. Philippine President Benigno Aquino declared a state of national calamity after flash floods and land slides caused by a typhoon swept through the region late last week, killing about 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

Charlie Saceda / Reuters

Dec. 20, 2011

Soldiers carry coffins of flash flood victims during a mass burial in Iligan city.

Bullit Marquez / AP

Dec. 20, 2011

Relatives weep during the mass burial for victims of Friday's flash flooding. Funeral rites were presided over by a Catholic bishop at nightfall in Iligan city.

Bullit Marquez / AP

Dec. 20, 2011

A relative grieves over the coffin of a loved one.

Bullit Marquez / AP

Dec. 20, 2011

People sit in a truck with coffins containing the bodies of Tropical Storm Washi victims as they head for a mass burial in a cemetery in Iligan city. About 1,000 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless in the wake of the storm.

Erik de Castro / Reuters

Dec. 20, 2011

Debris of mostly logs washed ashore in Iligan city during the storm. President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of national calamity and relief agencies rushed to deliver aid.

Bullit Marquez / AP

Dec. 20, 2011

Relatives of victims cover their faces as they try to identify corpses laid on a ground next to a funeral parlor near Iligan city on the southern island of Mindanao, four days day after Tropical Storm Washi wrought havoc in the city. More than a thousand people are dead or missing.

Ted Aljibe / AFP/Getty Images

Dec. 20, 2011

Victims of Tropical Storm Washi lie inside coffins and body bags near a road near Iligan city, awaiting identification by their relatives.

Erik de Castro / Reuters

Dec. 20, 2011

Workers load relief goods onto a navy ship in Manila, to be transported to the southern Philippine city of Cagayan de Oro, one of the areas worst-hit by Tropical Storm Washi. A lack of potable water is a serious problem in the city where the water system was damaged by the flood.

Jay Directo / AFP/Getty Images

Dec. 18, 2011

Remains of houses, toppled trucks and uprooted trees lie along a flood-ravaged area in the city of Cagayan de Oro in the southern Philippines. Tropical Storm Washi devastated a wide swath of the southern Philippines with flash floods that killed hundreds of people as they slept and turned two coastal cities into a muddy wasteland filled with overturned cars and uprooted trees.

Froilan Gallardo / AP

Dec. 17, 2011

Residents are rescued by volunteers after a flash flood that inundated the southern Philippines city of Cagayan de Oro. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river.

Erwin Mascarinas / AP

Dec. 17, 2011

Volunteers rescure residents after a flash flood that inundated the city of Cagayan de Oro.

Erwin Mascarinas / AP

Dec. 17, 2011

Volunteers use a rubber boat to ferry residents to safer ground after a flash flood in the city of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.

Froilan Gallardo / AP

Dec. 17, 2011

A resident rummages through debris after a flash flood in the city of Cagayan de Oro.

Froilan Gallardo / AP

Dec. 17, 2011

Police approach a distraught resident after a flash flood inundated Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.

Froilan Gallardo / AP

Dec. 18, 2011

Tropical Storm Washi carved out a wide swath of devastation in the southern Philippines, including in the city of Cagayan de Oro.

Froilan Gallardo / AP

Dec. 18, 2011

A girl carrying salvaged material walks through debris and floodwaters along a street in Cagayan de Oro, on the southern island of Mindanao.

Ted Aljibe / AFP/Getty Images

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