Over 400 people have been killed after tropical storm Washi hit the southern Philippines, BBC said, quoting a Philippines army official.
Most of the victims of the storm that hit southern Mindanao Island on Friday night, were asleep as the ferocious floods swept into their homes, BBC said.
Kate McGeown, a BBC journalist in Manila said that the Washi storm caught people by surprise as the Mindanao Island is usually bypassed by the country's typhoons and storms.
“Officials say they warned residents about Washi's approach on Friday, but many people dismissed the dangers and went to bed as normal, only to wake up as the waters rapidly rose,” McGeown reported.
Philippine National Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang told the Associated Press that 215 people had been killed in the town of Cagayan de Oro and 144 in Iligan.
The death toll count is based on number of bodies brought to funeral parlours, Associated Press said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday expressed his condolences to the Philippines President Benigno Aquino III over the deadly floods, Kremlin’s press service said.
"Please, convey my sincere condolences to relatives of the victims, sympathy and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured," the telegram reads.
Washi is the strongest storm to hit southern Philippines over 40 years.
