At least 50 people have been killed and thousands more evacuated¹ as floods caused by heavy rain brought chaos² to the Philippines, officials say.

菲律宾官员称，由于暴雨造成的洪水造成至少50人致死、数千人被迫疏散。

At least one town is completely under water. Power has been cut off to parts of the capital, Manila, where hundreds of people are trapped on rooftops.

The government has declared a calamity³（灾难，不幸事件）, allowing access to emergency funds.

Television pictures showed water flowing down roads like rivers, with the floods chest-deep and rising.

The equivalent of（相当于） a whole month's rain fell in six hours as Tropical Storm Ketsana, also known as Ondoy, lashed⁴（鞭打，摆动） the island of Luzon, causing the worst flooding in Manila for 20 years.

Nearly 2,000 people were evacuated and hundreds more were stranded⁵（搁浅，处于困境） on rooftops.

Philippines President Gloria Arroyo⁶ appealed for donations and called for calm.

"I am calling on our countrymen, especially residents of metro⁷ Manila and other provinces in the path of the typhoon, to please stay calm, follow the instructions of local officials and civil defence authorities," she said in a TV message.

Roads blocked

Mayor Mon Ilagan of the town of Cainta, in Rizal province to the north, told local media his town was "almost 100% under water".

Rizal Governor Casimiro Ynares was quoted by local TV as saying other towns were completely inundated（淹没，洪泛的）.

Provincial⁸ spokesman Tony Mateo, quoted by the Associated Press, said at least 35 people had been killed in five townships in the province and 27 more were missing.

Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez told AP that two people had died south of Manila, and three others in Quezon City. There are media reports of at least 10 more deaths in and around the capital.

Roads leading into Manila were rendered（提交，给予） impassable（不能通行的） by stalled vehicles, and some ferry services were cancelled.

Thousands of passengers were stranded as international and domestic airports were shut down.

Tropical Storm Ketsana, with winds of up to 100 km/h, is still over Luzon, and is expected to head out over the South China Sea on Sunday or Monday.