Typhoon Washi, locally known as Sendong, struck the Philippines hard late last Friday and caused landslides and flash floods that killed over six hundred and fifty people.

Despite the fact that typhoons regularly strike the Philippines, many were caught unprepared when Washi struck. Since it happened so late at night, many of the victims had been sleeping in their beds when the flash floods came crashing down from the mountains.

Typhoon Washi dumped one hundred and forty-two millimeters of rainfall (over one month's worth of average rainfall) on Mindanao in twelve hours, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Due to the number of bodies that have yet to be claimed, authorities have assumed that whole families have died due to the typhoon.

The efforts of rescuers, composed of soldiers, policemen, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers, were also hindered by the electrical outage and the terrible road conditions.

Many upcoming Christmas celebrations have been cancelled as people have lost family members and their homes.

More than nine hundred people are still missing and several of the hardest hit areas still have yet to receive aid from disaster response teams.

"The surface runoff from the mountains drained to these cities aggravated the flooding... The storm made landfall over Surigao del Sur last Friday then it traversed Agusan del Sur, Northern Bukidnon, and Misamis Occidental in the area of Cagayan de Oro City," said PAGASA's Weather Branch Assistant Chief Rene Paciente.

The hardest hit areas were the Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities in Mindanao. Other highly affected areas include Compostela Valley, Zamboanga del Norte and Dumaguete.

Recently, the public has been warned about scammers attempting to pocket donations through fake Facebook and Twitter accounts. The public has been advised to screen any social networking accounts which have been asking for financial assistance.

"They can always send their donations to the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC). If there's any official advisory from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila regarding this matter, we will let the public know," said Philippine Consulate General Benito Valeriano.

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