Disaster official: 'Nearly all houses in Tacloban toppled'

In the central Philippines, nearly all houses in Tacloban in Leyte province with a population of about 220,000, were toppled and casualties were feared to be massive, a disaster official said.

"Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged. Only a few houses are left standing, but with partial damages," Major Rey Balido, a spokesman for the national disaster agency said.

"Our disaster officials can't give a number on casualties yet, the communication lines are down," Major Balido said.

"But I asked our teams to send us even a crude body count, they are just using a satellite phone and the signal is poor."

The typhoon has triggered landslides and floods and knocked out power and communications across a number of islands.