Philippines: Typhoon Bopha leaves over 270 dead "The waters came so suddenly and unexpectedly, and the winds were so fierce, that compounded the loss of lives," he told Reuters. A woman carries her child through floods brought about by Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines (AFP/Getty) Rescue teams said large parts of the Compostela Valley were now a bleak, mud-churned landscape of collapsed houses and flattened coconut and banana plantations littered with bodies. 81 more people are confirmed to have perished in six towns across neighbouring Davao Oriental Province, with unknown numbers still missing, according to the provincial disaster agency. Locals described winds so powerful that entire villages and towns were destroyed. "I was told the force of the wind could even lift an army truck loaded with troops from the ground," said Rommil Mitra, a police chief in Davao Oriental Province. The provincial governor of Davao Oriental said rescuers trying to reach the most isolated parts of the province were "running an obstacle course," with collapsed bridges and felled trees hindering their efforts. An unknown number of people in other coastal areas of Mindanao have also died in the storm, one of the 20-odd typhoons that hit the Philippines annually. 87,000 people were evacuated ahead of Bopha's arrival, after officials heeded the lessons of the devastation caused by last year's Typhoon Washi which left 1,300 people dead when it hit an unprepared Mindanao. On Wednesday afternoon, Bopha was moving over Palawan Island, a popular tourist destination, with winds still reported as reaching over 90mph. It is expected to weaken further as it heads into the South China Sea on Thursday.