ALL photos taken from the internet.

MANILA - Seen from a military helicopter flying above the sprawling city, Metro Manila was on Sunday covered by a sea of brown with islands of desperate people clinging to corrugated rooftops.

One man, wearing only shorts and sandals, held up a piece of paper appealing for help with the words "food" and "water" scrawled on it.

Elsewhere, residents who could not wait to be rescued waded through the water, carrying their children and anything else they could manage on their shoulders or heads.

Two men converted a car roof top into a makeshift raft, and hauled themselves by rope across what was once a road but now a river.

Elsewhere, dog and chicken carcasses floated in the water as rescuers in rubber boats struggled to navigate around mountains of debris.

The devastation extended across vast areas of Manila after the heaviest rain in more than 40 years sent torrents of water up to six meters (20 feet) high streaming across the city on Saturday.

The storm, which destroyed both shanty towns and upmarket suburbs, left at least 73 people dead and displaced more than 330,000, according to the government.

-from ABS-CBN news.

Thousands are still waiting to be rescued on rooftops with no food and water. Some places are still impassable.

Hurricane Katrina dumped 1 inch of rainfall for 3 hrs in '05. Tropical storm 'Ondoy' dumped an average of 2.24 inches/hr for 6 hrs