MANILA: Heavy rains pummelled the entire Philippines on Saturday, flooding more areas as the government declared a "state of national calamity".
The death toll after a week of devastating weather has risen to 41, according to confirmed reports from national and local disaster monitoring agencies.
Poor farming communities in the main southern island of Mindanao were flooded Saturday after at least two rivers burst their banks, local disaster officials said.
The storm, locally named Onyok, had weakened into a low pressure area after hitting land late Friday but continued to bring more rains to Mindanao and the central Visayas islands.
Cold monsoon winds blowing from the northeast brought rains to Luzon, the main northern island, where large farming communities have been submerged in mostly waist-deep floods from Typhoon Melor, which hit at the start of the week.
Areas inundated by Melor have barely recovered from floods brought by Typhoon Koppu in October.
"Almost the entire Philippines is experiencing rains. More floods are possible," state weather forecaster Robert Badrina told AFP.
"We expect the rains to peak today. The weather will start to improve tomorrow," he said.
President Benigno Aquino ordered state agencies to "hasten the rescue recovery, relief and rehabilitation efforts," in a statement declaring a state of "national calamity".
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