While the former Category 5 storm weakened somewhat just before striking Mindanao Island’s eastern coast, it still dumped torrential rainfall that was responsible for most of the fatalities.

At least 43 of the victims drowned in one village struck by flash flooding. Water cascading down a mountainside quickly submerged the village of Andap, in hard-hit Compostela Valley province.

Others died in an army truck that became swamped while carrying soldiers and villagers fleeing the storm. More victims perished while huddling in emergency shelters.

Bopha struck much farther than areas typically affected by the country’s average of 20 typhoons or tropical storms each year.

It has been decades since such a powerful storm struck the heart of Mindanao, meteorologists say.

Bopha’s maximum sustained winds were estimated at 110 mph when it made landfall around Davao Oriental province at dawn on Tuesday.

Its high winds knocked out power to two entire provinces and tore roofs off homes and uprooted trees.

Typhoon Bopha Track

Satellite Loop Data: CIMSS