of people who remain missing , Balido said by telephone from the island of Mindanao , the scene of the worst devastation . He added that the fishermen volunteered , since many of them had lost friends and relatives in the disaster . The unusually heavy rains of Tropical Storm Washi , which churned across the southern Philippines between December 16 and 18 , resulted in landslides and flash floods that swept away whole villages . The authorities have had to carry out mass burials in order to deal with the large numbers of dead . `` I 've gone through many disasters but this one is the worst as some of the survivors have lost so many family members , '' said Richard Gordon , chairman of the Philippine Red Cross . `` Some have lost as many as 30 relatives , '' he said in comments posted recently on the organization 's website . The number of people injured as a result of the storm has more than doubled to 4,594 from 1,979 at the weekend , according to the NDRRMC putting more pressure on already stretched relief agencies The United Nations said last week that the storm
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The Philippine government said Tuesday that fresh rain in Visayas and Mindanao could set off flash floods and landslides , bringing the potential for more misery in places already struggling to recover from a deadly tropical storm . Eastern Luzon will experience cloudy skies with scattered rain , while the rest of the island will have mostly cloudy skies with light rain , the Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council -LRB- NDRRMC -RRB- predicted . On Tuesday , the national government offered a new death toll -- 1,453 -- then revised it again based on a count by Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council . The lower count means the death toll from the storm that lashed the southern Philippines more than a week remained unchanged from Monday : 1,249 . The bodies of people swept out to sea by flash floods from the storm have washed up on nearby beaches and islands , Maj. Reynaldo Balido , the military assistant for operations at the Office of Civil Defense , said Monday . The authorities have enlisted the help of local fishermen to help the continuing search and rescue efforts for the scores