Philippines storm: Your stories

Around 440 people are now thought to have been killed when Typhoon Washi caused flash flooding in the southern Philippines, according to the Red Cross.

Many of the victims were asleep when it struck Mindanao island, hitting the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

BBC News website readers in the region have been sharing their thoughts and experiences of the flooding in the past 24 hours.

Mark Donkin, Dumaguete

Last night the owner of the hotel had been talking with other local fishermen. He owns boats for whale, dolphin and diving expeditions.

They were all confident that the prevailing northern wind would mean the storm would either miss us or not be very powerful. Day trips were still being planned for Sunday.

This morning I woke up boiling hot, but thought I could still hear the air conditioning running - as it happens it was the sound of the rain outside and all power was off in the hotel.

I went outside to look and was shocked that the main road in front of the hotel was flooded and was around 1.5ft deep and getting worse.

The rain was still battering down and sewage was pumping up from the grates.

I watched from the balcony as the locals tried to cycle and drive through the water. One lorry's engine was flooded and they had to abandon the vehicle until eventually the road was closed.

In the meantime there was not much to do as we couldn't go out so we watched a film and fell asleep as did all other travellers. When we woke up four hours later, I was totally surprised that our roof had leaked, badly soaking all our belongings, but the road was completely dry other than silt and drift wood.

Mark and girlfriend Sam Nelson, from Merseyside, UK, are on holiday

We went out to the sea front - the waves were huge and the water was a deep brown rather than the usual blue. There was also a cargo ship grounded and capsized.

The owner of our hotel received a call around 06:00 from the captain in tears saying the pump had stopped working and he was not able to bail the water out fast enough.

Four other crew members swam out to the boat in four-metre high waves to assist him. They were all OK and thanks to their bravery the boat sustained only minor damage.

Val, Dumaguete

It takes about 15 minutes to reach the city.

I never thought the rain would cause floods in the other municipalities until I heard from the people and the radio about the floods that occurred which destroyed houses especially those near the river banks.

The storm caused heavy rains which lasted for hours, minor gusts of wind, but the wind along the beach was a lot stronger.

I've experienced storms like these before and much stronger actually with the same results; floods in the city, overflowing rivers, power shutdown, damaged properties and loss of life. It has always been like this.

The storm did not affect us much because we live in higher ground far from the city or rivers but the power and water service shutdown was a nuisance. Hopefully my family was OK.

Anthony Flavell, Cagayan De Oro

"The sound of the wind and rain was immense"

I have experienced storms before in this region, but you need to know that the Philippines has around 22 typhoons per year.

The majority miss Mindanao Island, where Cagayan De Oro is situated and head up to Luzon in Northern PhiliPpines.

This tropical depression was of great intensity with maximum winds of 75km per hour, and was probably the worst storm to hit the area in the last 50 years.

The sound of the wind and rain was immense with the rain coming down in torrents for a sustained period of at least nine hours.

Where I live, we are lucky in the sense that we are situated on high ground. Most of the flooding took place on low ground, close to the Cagayan River.

We are dry now and just experienced some leaks and water in our home. A group of ex-pats in Cagayan De Oro sprang to action immediately after the floods to offer assistance locally.

They are delivering rice and other foodstuffs to help with the relief effort.

It's possible that more rain could arrive but we are almost at the end of the typhoon season so things should quieten down a little.

Paul Ellis, Sapia, Capiz

"I am not used to sharing my accommodation with snakes"

Being in a village in the middle of the rainforest no-one has really been too bothered by the rain; life generally goes on as normal with the additional accessory of an umbrella, not so much to keep dry - that much rain hurts when it hits you.

There have been people out including me clearing blocked storm drains and removing snakes that seem to have taken refuge in the dryer areas, namely my house.

Being a retired Brit I am not used to sharing my accommodation with snakes but during storms it is part of life here.

My wife has been to visit family in the area and no-one seems to have come to any harm, although rice crops have suffered badly and a few houses have suffered some minor damage, mainly roof and water log.

Winds were not destructive but the rains have flooded a few roads after high tide, but not more than knee deep. Electricity supply is intermittent, but this is normal during any storm here.