Rescuers in the Philippines are searching for survivors of a storm that triggered floods and landslides and killed about 200 people.
Scores of people are missing and thousands homeless, most of whom apparently ignored warnings to move to safety.
Compounding the misery, in a separate tragedy, at least 37 people are understood to have died in a Christmas Eve shopping mall fire, officials said.
The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons a year and warnings are routinely issued, but the level of destruction wreaked by tropical storm Tembin on the southern island of Mindanao from late on Friday came as a surprise.
"It happened very fast, the flood waters quickly rose filling our house," farmer Felipe Ybarsabal, 65, told Reuters, saying he and his family had to run to higher ground.
"We weren't able to save anything from the house. There was no help from anyone because it was so fast. Everything was two to three metres under water in less than an hour."
Police and disaster officials said they expected the toll of about 200 dead to rise with more fatalities likely to be discovered in remote farm communities and coastal areas, as rescuers reached them and restored communication and power links.
Disaster officials said 159 people were listed as missing while about 70,000 had been forced from their homes.
Many villagers had ignored warnings to leave coastal areas and move away from riverbanks, and got swept away when flash floods and landslides struck, officials said.
The United Nations was ready to help the Philippines, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
Pope Francis offered his prayers for the people of Mindanao while delivering his weekly blessing to a crowd on St Peter's Square at the Vatican.
