The Philippines called today for international help as it sought to deal with the aftermath of a tropical storm that triggered the deadliest flooding in the country for 40 years.

At
least 140 people were confirmed dead and another 32 were missing after
the weekend flooding in and around the capital, Manila. Officials fear
further bad weather could compound the disaster.

Gilbert Teodoro,
the defence secretary, said help from foreign governments would augment
relief work already started by the army, police and civilian volunteers.

He
said welfare agencies had begun to provide food, medicine and other
help to more than 115,000 people in government-run emergency shelters.

It
is feared the death toll could increase significantly as rescue workers
come to terms with the scale of the disaster, which happened when
tropical storm Ketsana tore through the northern Philippines on
Saturday. Teodoro estimated that 435,000 people had been displaced.

He
told a press conference the official death toll excluded a reported 95
deaths in Antipolo City, east of Manila, and in Marikina City and
Quezon City, two of the northern municipalities of metropolitan Manila.

Ketsana
brought more than a month's worth of rain in 12 hours, swamping towns,
starting landslides and leaving neighbourhoods in Manila under water.

Amateur video footage showed cars swirling like driftwood in the floodwater. Stranded passengers waited to be rescued on the roof of one vehicle.

The
government declared a "state of calamity" in metropolitan Manila and 25
storm-hit provinces, allowing officials to use emergency funds for
relief and rescue.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the president, today opened up the presidential palace as an emergency centre for victims.

She
said the storm and flooding were "an extreme event" that "strained our
response capabilities to the limit but ultimately did not break us".

Joselito Mendoza, the governor of Bulacan province, north of the capital, said: "People drowned in their own houses."

Ronald
Manlangit, a 30-year-old resident of the Manila suburb of Marikina
City, said: "We're back to zero. Suddenly, all of our belongings were
floating. If the water rose further, all of us in the neighbourhood
would have been killed."

Footage taken from a military helicopter
yesterday showed survivors marooned on top of half-submerged buses and
roofs in suburban Manila.

Some were clinging to power lines while others waded through waist-high waters.