At least 75 dead in Philippines floods

MANILA, Philippines, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Torrential rains subsided a bit Sunday in Manila as residents mourned at least 75 deaths and tallied damage from weekend flooding, Philippine officials said.

More than 80 percent of the Philippines capital was underwater after record downpours delivered by Tropical Storm Ketsana, CNN reported.

Manila, on the island of Luzon, and the province of Rizal were hardest hit by the storm. People stood on the roofs of their homes waiting to be rescued by army helicopters while others reportedly waded through floodwaters while tethered to ropes, the U.S. broadcaster said.

Richard Gordon, the chairman of the Philippines National Red Cross, told reporters: "Right now the challenge is to find out how many people have actually died and how many people we have to take care of in terms of people who've been displaced. We're really talking about maybe hundreds of thousands of people."

CNN said initial estimates of people displaced by the floods hovered between 280,000 and 300,000 on Luzon alone.

Meteorologists said nearly 13.5 inches of rain fell in Manila Saturday, breaking a record for most rainfall in a 24-hour period.