Typhoon Death Toll in 1 City Could Reach 10,000 As many as 10,000 people are believed dead in one Philippine city alone when one of the worst storms on record sent giant sea waves washing away homes, schools and airport buildings, officials said Sunday. Ferocious winds ravaged several central islands, burying people under tons of debris and leaving corpses hanging from trees. The typhoon hit the eastern seaboard of the Philippine archipelago Friday and barreled through six eastern and central islands before exiting into the South China Sea, packing ferocious winds of 235 kilometers per hour (147 miles per hour) and gusts of 275 kph (170 mph). On Leyte Island, regional police chief Elmer Soria said he was told by Gov. Dominic Petilla that there were about 10,000 deaths in the province, mostly by drowning and from collapsed buildings. The figure was based on reports from village officials. On Samar, the island facing Tacloban, Leo Dacaynos of the provincial disaster office said Sunday that 300 people were confirmed dead in Basey town and another 2,000 are missing. He said that the storm surge caused sea waters to rise 6 meters (20 feet). There are still other towns on Samar that have not been reached, he said, and appealed for food and water. Power was knocked out and there was no cellphone signal, making communication possible only by radio. Apart from Leyte and Samar, reports from the other four islands were still coming in, so far with dozens of fatalities. The typhoon weakened Sunday to 166 kph (103 mph) with stronger gusts and was forecast to lose strength further when it hits northern Vietnam's Thanh Hoa province early Monday morning. Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said that the death toll in the city alone "could go up to 10,000." Tacloban is the Leyte provincial capital of 200,000 people and the biggest city on Leyte Island. About 300-400 bodies have already been recovered but there are "still a lot under the debris," Lim said. A mass burial was planned Sunday in Palo town near Tacloban. Many corpses hung on tree branches, buildings and sidewalks. "On the way to the airport we saw many bodies along the street," said Philippine-born Australian Mila Ward, 53, who was waiting at the Tacloban airport to catch a military flight back to Manila. "They were covered with just anything - tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards," she said. Asked how many, she said, "Well over 100 where we passed." Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said a massive rescue operation was underway. "We expect a very high number of fatalities as well as injured," Roxas said after visiting Tacloban on Saturday. President Benigno Aquino III, who landed in Tacloban on Sunday to get a firsthand look at the disaster, said the casualties "will be substantially more" than the official count of 151 - but gave no figure or estimate. The Philippines has no resources on its own to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, and the U.S. and other governments and agencies were mounting a major relief effort, said Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon.