Kathmandu. The death toll from cyclone Vamco in Philippines has climbed to 67, with 12 people still missing as of Sunday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) of Philippines said.

Vamco is  he 21st and the deadliest cyclone to hit the Philippines this year. The typhoon has ravaged a big part of Luzon, which houses almost half of the country’s population and 70 per cent of economic activity, from Wednesday to Thursday.

The International Federation of the Red Cross said 47,000 people have been rescued so far, but thousands still remain trapped, according to Al Jazeera.

Many areas in Cagayan, a rice- and corn-producing region of 1.2 million people, remained submerged as of Sunday. The floods were the worst seen in the region for at least 40 years. People were forced to move to rooftops to escape two-story high floods.

According to the NDRRMC, the damage to agricultural commodities due to floods was initially estimated at 1.2 billion pesos ($25m), while infrastructure damage was estimated at 470 million pesos ($9.7m). Nearly 26,000 houses were also damaged.

Meanwhile, rescuers continue to bring food and clean water to the flood victims in the northern Philippine provinces of Cagayan and Isabela on Sunday. The non-stop torrential rains brought by Vamco and the cyclones before it led to the spilling of water from the Magat Dam, a large rock-fill dam in the main island of Luzon, creating severe flooding. The residents awaited rescue after tens of thousands of homes were submerged and flooded.

Vamco struck the Philippines as it was still struggling to recover from the devastation of Goni, the most powerful typhoon in the world this year.

President Rodrigo Duterte, in his national address, assured the people “the government will not leave anybody behind” and has pledged for shelter, relief goods, financial aid and counselling.