The death toll from recent floods and landslides in the Philippines has risen to 51, officials said, as authorities distribute food to the most affected residents.
The death toll could rise further, as rescuers are still searching for 19 people still missing more than a week after heavy rains hit southern and central parts of the country over the Christmas weekend, reports a local Arabic daily quoting the Philippines national disaster agency.
Bad weather hit the country of 110 million people, most of them Catholics, as it prepared for the Christmas holidays.
The Agence France-Presse said that more than 270,000 people had to go to emergency shelters, while the rains flooded rural villages and led to the destruction or damage of more than 4,500 homes and destroyed more than 7,000 hectares of crops.
Instead of celebrating with their loved ones, thousands of families were busy cleaning homes and shops after the flood waters receded.
Most of the deaths were recorded in Misamis Occidental Province on the southern island of Mindanao, where 19 people died from drowning or from landslides caused by rain.
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