Philippine authorities are rushing to distribute aid to thousands of evacuees after Typhoon Noru made landfall in the capital, leaving at least five dead and sparking widespread flooding.
Sustained winds of 185 kilometres per hour hit the main island of Luzon at the weekend, prompting authorities to shut schools, government offices and the stock market on Monday.
President Ferdinand Marcos ordered airlifts of supplies and clean-up equipment to the most-affected communities.
"The point at which we can stand down is when the majority of evacuees are already back home," Marcos said at a news conference with disaster management officials on Monday, referring to the 74,000 people forced into evacuation centres by the storm.
Luzon, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy and half the country's 110 million population, started clean-up operations as floods in the capital region began subsiding.
Governor Daniel Fernando told DZMM radio five rescue workers were killed in Bulacan province, where residents waded through waist-deep waters while others were stranded on rooftops.
"Many homes were destroyed but all roads are passable and there were no landslides," Quezon province Governor Helen Tan told DZRH radio station.
President Marcos, who will conduct an aerial inspection on Monday, ordered officials to provide emergency power to two provinces north of the capital, Aurora and Nueva Ecija.
Noru made landfall as a category 3 typhoon but weakened as it traversed land on Sunday night.
The storm was headed out over the South China Sea and toward Vietnam, the state weather agency said.
The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7600 islands, has an average of 20 tropical storms a year that cause floods and landslides.
Australian Associated Press
