Manila, Philippines -- THE death toll from a tropical storm that swept through the northern Philippines has risen sharply to 37 after victims were discovered in an isolated province, the civil defence office said Wednesday.

Twenty four people have been discovered dead, mostly in remote Pangasinan province, where villages were found submerged in flood waters and roofs blown off houses by tropical storm Halong.

Some parts of the province remained without power and communication lines were down four days after Halong made landfall.

More than one million people have been affected by flash floods, landslides and heavy rains with more than 200,000 people still in evacuation centres on Wednesday, the agency said.