Disaster officials say heavy monsoon rains drenching the eastern Philippines for two weeks have drowned seven more people, pushing the death toll to 40 with seven missing.
The Government's national disaster council said today two children aged 6 and a third aged 9 were among the victims of flash floods that hit Samar Island on Tuesday.
Eight other people were injured as floodwaters 3m high blocked highways, overflowed bridges, isolated towns and damaged hundreds of houses.
More than 1 million people have been affected by the floods in the northern, central and southern Philippines. Some 25,000 have sought shelter in evacuation centres, nearly half of them in Albay province in the central Bicol region.
