Typhoon Haiyan has been much more deadly than the early numbers indicated. As of Friday morning, only four people were reported dead; just a day later, Fox News reported that over 1,000 were killed in one town alone, 200 in another village, and "validation is ongoing," according to Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross.
"An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban as reported by our Red Cross teams,'' Pang told Reuters.
Though Tacloban has been the most death-stricken village so far, similar reports have surfaced from other villages found on the five islands of the Philippines that were hit the hardest, according to Fox.
Regional military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said the final casualty count will most likely increase once communication is restored and roads become navigable.
Over 800,000 people evacuated their homes; four million in total were affected by the storm, according to the national disaster agency, Fox reported. Tacloban's seaside airport was severely damaged though relief planes were able to find a landing area and disperse supplies and aid workers.
"Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged. Only a few are left standing," Major Rey Balido from the national disaster agency told Reuters.
Flooding, massive waves, and 150 mph winds strong enough to rip the roofs off houses wrecked the area and led to the one of the deadliest storms ever to hit the Philippines. In one center where casualties were brought, the tin roof blew off and aid workers had to move the bodies to another location, according to Fox.
"I saw those big waves and immediately told my neighbors to flee. We thought it was a tsunami," Floremil Mazo, a villager in southeastern Davao Oriental province, told Reuters.
Winds receded to 100 mph on Saturday as the storm moved away from the Phillipines and towards Vietnam. Officials in Vietnam have already begun evacuation, Fox reported.
