Charities and emergency services have appealed for donations
\n MANILA
\nMore than 80 people have been reported killed in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, official tallies showed Sunday, as efforts to deliver water and food to devastated islands ramped up.
\nMore than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai ravaged the southern and central regions of the archipelago.
\nThe storm knocked out communications and electricity in many areas, ripped off roofs, toppled concrete power poles and flooded villages.
\nArthur Yap, governor of the popular tourist destination Bohol, said on his official Facebook page that mayors on the devastated island had so far reported 63 deaths in their towns.
\nThat took the overall number of reported deaths to 89, according to the latest official figures.
\nBut the toll was likely to rise as disaster agencies assessed the full extent of the death and destruction from the storm across the vast archipelago.
\nRai smashed into the country Thursday as a super typhoon packing wind speeds of 195 kilometers (120 miles) per hour.
\nThousands of military, police, coast guard and fire personnel are being deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts in the worst-affected areas.
\nCoast guard and naval vessels carrying food, water and medical supplies are being dispatched, while heavy machinery \u2014 like backhoes and front-end loaders \u2014 are being sent to help clear roads blocked by fallen power poles and trees.
\nCharities and emergency services have appealed for donations.
\nAn aerial survey of damage to parts of Bohol \u2014 known for its beaches, rolling \u201cChocolate Hills,\u201d and tiny tarsier primates \u2014 showed \u201cour people have suffered greatly,\u201d Yap said.
\nThere has also been widespread destruction on Siargao, Dinagat and Mindanao islands, which bore the brunt of Rai when it slammed into the Philippines.
\nAerial photos shared by the military showed severe damage in the Siargao town of General Luna, where many surfers and holidaymakers had flocked ahead of Christmas, with buildings stripped of roofs and debris littering the ground.
\nTourists were being evacuated from the island on Sunday.
\nDinagat Governor Arlene Bag-ao said Saturday the damage to the island\u2019s landscape was \u201creminiscent if not worse\u201d than that caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
\nHaiyan, called Yolanda in the Philippines, was the deadliest cyclone on record in the country, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing.
\n\u201cI saw how Typhoon Odette tore the provincial capitol apart, piece by piece,\u201d Dinagat provincial information officer Jeffrey Crisostomo told radio station DZBB, using the local name for Rai.
\n\u201cBig tables as heavy as a man went flying during the onslaught of the storm,\u201d he said.
\nIn Surigao City, on the northern tip of Mindanao, shattered glass from smashed windows, roofing, power lines and other debris were scattered in the streets.
\nTricycle driver Rey Jamile, 57, braved flooded streets and \u201cflying\u201d sheets of corrugated iron roofing to get his family to safety at a school evacuation center.
\n\u201cThe wind was very strong,\u201d he told AFP, adding now the storm was over he was struggling to find water and food.
\nRai\u2019s wind speeds eased to 150 kph as it barrelled across the country, dumping torrential rain, uprooting trees and destroying wooden structures.
\nIt emerged over the South China Sea on Saturday and headed toward Vietnam.
\nRai hit the Philippines late in the typhoon season \u2014 most cyclones typically develop between July and October.
\nScientists have long warned that typhoons are becoming more powerful and strengthening more rapidly as the world becomes warmer because of human-driven climate change.
\nThe Philippines \u2014 ranked among the globe\u2019s most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate change \u2014 is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure in already impoverished areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Charities and emergency services have appealed for donations MANILA More than 80 people have been reported killed in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, official tallies showed Sunday, as efforts to deliver water and food to devastated islands ramped up. More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[483,1874,1875],"class_list":{"0":"post-233828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-dead","9":"tag-philippine","10":"tag-typhoon"},"yoast_head":"\n