Montevista , Philippines ( CNN ) -- Bent over amid the wreckage of her family 's home , Jane Bucani , 17 , leafs through the sodden remnants of her school yearbook , trying to see what memories she can salvage . Her mother , Rosal , picks among the jumble of debris where her kitchen used to be . The broken appliances strewn across the floor are the only indication that this was where she would cook for her five children . And they are some of the more fortunate ones . Up and down the poor , remote Compostela Valley region on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao , families like the Bucanis are trying to come to terms with what hit them . Thousands of flimsy houses have been ripped to shreds . Scores of people are dead . Hundreds more are still missing , swept away in flash floods that roared down from the hills . In some places , mudcaked corpses line the streets , covered with cloths and palm leaves . Distraught relatives wail and tug at one another 's clothes . Rescuers struggle to aid Philippines storm victims . The merciless force that tore apart lives in the valley and elsewhere in eastern Mindanao was Typhoon Bopha , known locally as `` Pablo , '' the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the island in decades . Rosal Bucani , 48 , who lives in the town of Montevista , said she had never experienced anything like it . She did n't hear the warnings to take refuge in evacuation centers . Many of those who did failed to heed them . The area is sheltered from the worst of the weather by mountains , they figured . And besides , the big typhoons that slam into the Philippines every year never come this far south , especially not this late in the year . But Bopha did . And it brought savage winds that uprooted entire banana plantations in low-lying areas , and relentless rain that unleashed torrents of rocks and mud down the mountainsides where shanty-dwelling miners dig for gold . The epicenter of the devastation appears to have been in New Bataan , a town about 20 kilometers ( 12 miles ) southeast of Montevista and close to the steep mountains . The flash floods hit it head-on Tuesday , washing away families huddled in their homes and soldiers stationed in a compound in the town . Large parts of New Bataan and many of the people who lived there are now buried under mud , fallen trees and rubble , said Arnaldo Arcadio , an emergency response program manager for Catholic Relief Services , a humanitarian group . `` The mood is really gloomy , '' he said Thursday after visiting the town , where 90 % to 95 % of the houses are believed to have been destroyed or damaged . At least 142 people from New Bataan have died -- 110 of whom had n't been identified as of Friday morning -- Philippine authorities say . And with more than 340 others still unaccounted for in the town , the grim math of natural disasters suggests the death toll will rise further . Residents who evaded death now lack food , shelter and , most of all , drinking water , since the nearest source is 5 kilometers away , according to Arcadio . `` They are just trying to survive , '' he said , noting that the knee-deep mud in many places made it difficult to get around , with several areas of the town completely inaccessible . Philippine President Benigno Aquino III will visit New Bataan on Friday to assess the damage and oversee the distribution of relief goods , the official Philippine News Agency reported . `` I have Mindanao on my mind , especially the number of people missing , '' Aquino said Thursday . `` I am hoping these people will be found safe and sound . '' The president said he is saddened that some families will spend the holidays in evacuation centers because their homes were destroyed . Rescue workers have been struggling to reach many of the worst affected areas in Compostela Valley and the neighboring Davao Oriental region . Landslides have blocked roads and knocked out power and communications . Bopha raked across Mindanao and several other Philippine islands before moving off into the South China Sea . It has caused at least 418 deaths in the country , left about a quarter of a million homeless and affected more than 5 million people overall , the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council , the Philippines ' emergency management agency , reported Friday morning . Some 383 people are missing and 445 are injured , the agency said . The typhoon arrived just ahead of a sinister anniversary on Mindanao . A year ago , Tropical Storm Washi drenched northern areas of the island with heavy rain , setting off flash floods and landslides in the middle of the night that destroyed entire villages . Washi , dubbed `` Sendong '' in the Philippines , killed more than 1,200 people and left painful memories in the hardest hit areas , Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City . The approach this week of Bopha , a far more powerful storm than Washi , had residents fearing fresh devastation . Local authorities took preemptive action , relocating thousands of people to evacuation centers and setting up emergency supplies . But in the end , northern Mindanao was spared the worst of Bopha 's fury . It was the less prepared communities of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental , further south and east , that bore the brunt . An ethnically mixed area , the Compostela Valley was inhabited by a multitude of tribes until the 20th century , when a logging boom brought waves of migrants from further north in the Philippines . The timber trade , and later the mining industry , changed the geological and demographic landscape , stripping away the forests and driving many tribes into the hills . The valley is also known for its rich , fertile plain , where rice , corn , bananas and coconuts are grown . But on Thursday , the headline of the Philippine Star , a national newspaper , gave it a new , grim title : `` Valley of the dead . '' If you are there , share your story . CNN 's Liz Neisloss reported from Montevista , and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong . Elizabeth Joseph and Michael Pearson also contributed to this report .
142 people have died as a result of Typhoon Bopha , Philippine officials say . That includes At least 418 people in the town of Iligan City , the government reports . Some residents in the remote area did n't hear warnings , others ignored them . Survivors are in desperate need of water , food and shelter , a relief worker says .