Emergency relief officials and doctors have been deployed to flood devastated communities in the Philippines to prevent outbreaks of disease as the death toll jumped to 85.

While floods have gone down significantly around the capital Manila, many areas in nearby provinces remained inundated as overflowing dams continued to release water, the national disaster coordinating agency said.

The Red Cross put up huge rubber bladder tanks for clean water, while local officials sent portable latrines to packed evacuation centres.