Typhoon Washi hit the southern Philippines island of Mindanao on Saturday (December 17) killing more than 130 people.
An army spokesman said dozens of bodies had been recovered, many of them children who drowned in floods triggered by heavy rains that swept in with the storm.
More are still unaccounted for.
The category 1 typhoon was packing centre winds of 75 kilometres and hour and gusts of up to 90 kilometres an hour.
Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said many people were caught by surprise as flood water swept into their homes as they were sleeping.
He said the floods had risen to a metre in less than an hour.
Disaster agency officials said it was too early to estimate the extent of damage to property and crops because emergency workers were still evacuating families and recovering casualties.
Some domestic flights were grounded because of the storm, and wide areas plunged into darkness.
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