Manila (AFP) - The Philippine authorities announced Monday that 11 people were killed in a storm and floods caused by heavy monsoon rains on Christmas Day, which forced about 46,000 people to flee their homes.

In an update on previous figures, the Philippine authorities said Monday that 11 people were killed and 19 others were missing after a week of heavy rains in the south and east of the country.

The floods hit the south of the country on Sunday, the day Christmas was celebrated, the most important holiday in this country, which is predominantly Catholic.

The governor of Misamis Occidental province told state radio that rivers had burst their banks, inundating rural villages and highways, as well as the cities of Ozamiz and Oroquita.

And about the provincial capital, Oroquita, with a population of 72,000, he explained that "water flooded the heart of the city, including the market, and cut off electricity, and there was no signal" for telephone communications.

"We have seen floods before, but this is the worst rainfall and water flow ever," he added.

"The water rose up to chest level in some areas, but the rain stopped today," said civil defense official Robinson Laker, speaking to AFP from the city of Jingog.

Of the 45,700 people evacuated from their homes, 33,000 were residents of Jingog.

Coast Guard teams confirmed that they had rescued more than twenty families in the cities of Claren and Ozamiz at the height of the floods.

Pictures released by the Coast Guard showed rescuers in orange jumpsuits cradling children after they were pulled out of their homes at night, in waist-high flood waters.

Seven people were killed - most of them drowned - in Clarín and the neighboring southern cities of Jimenez and Tudela.

The Manila Civil Defense Office said that heavy monsoon rains Sunday caused flooding in 14 towns in Mindanao.

On the other hand, the coast guard said that strong winds and high waves led to the sinking of a fishing boat on Christmas Day off the central island of Leyte, killing two crew members while six others were rescued.

The Civil Defense Department said that two people, including a child, died in the eastern cities of Libmanan and Tinambak, after being swept away by water days before Christmas.

The coast guard said it also rescued 23 fishermen on two boats that capsized when they were hit by big waves off the southern city of Zamboanga on Sunday.

And 19 people are still missing, most of them fishermen on the country's Pacific coast, who had set sail to work despite the harsh conditions.

The bad weather came as the Christmas holidays began in this archipelago of 110 million people.

At this time of the year, millions of Filipinos return to their hometowns to meet their families, taking advantage of the long holidays.

The archipelago is constantly experiencing natural disasters.

In October 2022, severe tropical storm Nalgai triggered landslides and floods across the country that claimed at least 150 lives.

The Philippines is one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Scientists warn that the storms will only get stronger as the Earth's temperature rises.