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| In this file photo, a man is seen riding on a water buffalo in a flooded palm oil plantation in the Philippine town of San Francisco, in Agusan del Sur province on the southern island of Mindanao. |
Iligan mayor Lawrence Cruz described rampaging floodwaters from swollen rivers that swamped at least 10 villages on the city's outskirts.
"It happened so fast, at a time when people were fast asleep," Cruz told GMA television.
The station showed dramatic pictures of a family escaping out of the window of their home as floodwaters rose, and rescue workers in orange vests shepherding survivors to safety above chest-deep floodwaters.
The Philippine army mobilised 20,000 soldiers to help in rescue and evacuation efforts on Mindanao, which bore the brunt of the cyclone, Ramos told AFP.
"The storm was moving slowly so it dumped a lot of rain over the area. The flooding is extensive," said Ramos, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Iligan tourism officer Pat Noel told AFP waters began rising shortly before midnight (1600 GMT Friday) as people slept, sweeping houses made of light materials and their inhabitants along the riverbanks.
"Many of them told me they sought refuge on their rooftops," he said after joining the first wave of rescuers at daybreak.
"By the time I arrived they were sweeping thick mud out of their homes and the water on the street was down to knee level," Noel said, adding that two of three rivers that flow into the port of Iligan had overflowed.
A popular radio commentator was among those killed, he added.
Ramos said 25 millimetres (one inch) of rain had fallen over the past 24 hours.
"Storms rarely hit this area and people probably became complacent even though they knew it was heading their way," he said.
Weather forecasters said the eye of the storm passed close to Dipolog city near Iligan early Saturday and Washi was now heading out to the Sulu Sea.
The large western island of Palawan to the northwest lies directly in the path of the storm, with winds of 65 kilometres (40 miles) an hour.
Mindanao is a largely agricultural area that is considered the country's bread basket.
The Philippines is struck by about 20 major storms annually, with most hitting Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Southeast Asian archipelago.
Two typhoons, Nesat and Nalgae, hit the country within days of each other from late September, leaving more than 100 people dead, while tropical storm Banyan killed another eight people in October.
