Rescuers search for bodies at Maguindanao's Datu Odin Sinsuat town, southern Philippines on October 30, 2022. Maguindanao Province has been hardest hit by rain-induced floods and mudslides. Photo: VCG

Rescue teams across nine provinces in the Philippines raced on Wednesday to try to locate 26 people missing after weekend rains.

The floods and landslides have killed at least 25 people, in one of its deadliest weather events in 2022.

The national disaster agency on Wednesday said that casualties reported so far had increased to a number of 25 from 17 the previous day.

And the most deaths were caused by drowning from flash floods.

"Search and rescue operations continue, led by the coast guard as most of them were missing fishermen," the disaster agency's Diego Agustin Mariano told DZMM radio.

The rain-induced floods and the landslides this time are different from previous disasters in the Philippines, which are typically triggered by more severe typhoons and tropical storms, of which the archipelago nation normally sees about 20 cases every year.

The agency also recorded more than 300 flooded areas and 20 rain-induced landslides.

The disasters collectively have forced more than 80,000 people to take shelter in evacuation centers. Most of the floods have since subsided.

Local media showed images on Wednesday of people crammed in gymnasiums turned into evacuation centers and residents removing debris and cleaning up homes after days of heavy rains.

The state weather agency said that occasional light to moderate rains will continue in central and southern areas until Thursday.

Reuters