Disaster-weary Philippine residents mopped up Thursday after four days of torrential rain that officials said had killed 16 people and forced nearly 400,000 others from flooded homes.

Residents swept out their muddy floors as floods receded, having covered half the metropolis on Tuesday, rescue officials said.

Heavy rain pounded the Philippine capital and surrounding areas for a third day Wednesday, adding to the misery of nearly 300,0000 exhausted people displaced from their flooded homes.

Eight people have already been confirmed killed from the monsoon rains that have battered the main Philippine island of Luzon, and provincial authorities warned the death toll was likely to rise with reports of more drownings.

The confirmed death toll from a ferry disaster in the Philippines rose to 64 on Tuesday as more bodies were found, some of them inside the sunken ship itself.

Boats searching nearby islands for survivors found only the dead, while divers pulled out more bodies from the waters off the central island of Cebu, where the St Thomas Aquinas ferry collided with a cargo ship on Friday night and quickly sank.

The Philippines on Tuesday ordered the mandatory evacuation of its 6,000 nationals in Egypt after Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario visited the country to investigate the security situation after days of violent clashes.

Rosario also ordered the deployment of a special team to Cairo to help speed the repatriation of the Filipinos, who he urged to contact their embassy.

Torrential rain paralyzed large parts of the Philippine capital Monday as neck-deep water swept through homes, while floods in northern farming areas claimed at least one life.

Schools, government offices and the stock exchange in the megacity of 12 million people closed as a red alert was raised in the morning, the highest level of a warning system in which widespread floods are predicted.

The death toll from a ferry disaster in the Philippines rose to 52 on Monday as more bodies were pulled from the water, the coastguard said.

Divers and patrol boats were continuing to search for 68 other people still missing after the St Thomas Aquinas ferry collided with a cargo ship on Friday night and quickly sank near the central city of Cebu, the coastguard added.

Stormy weather forced Philippine rescuers to suspend a search Saturday for 171 people missing after a crowded ferry collided with a cargo ship and quickly sank, with 31 others confirmed dead.

The St Thomas Aquinas ferry was carrying 831 passengers and crew when the vessels smashed into each other late on Friday night in a dangerous choke point near the port of Cebu, the Philippines' second-biggest city, authorities said.

Philippine rescuers searched Saturday for more than 200 people missing after a crowded ferry collided with a cargo ship and sank almost instantly in thick darkness, with 28 already confirmed dead.

The St Thomas Aquinas ferry was carrying 870 passengers and crew when the accident occurred late on Friday night in a dangerous choke point near the port of Cebu, the Philippines' second biggest city, authorities said.

The Philippines and the United States began talks on Wednesday aimed at allowing a bigger U.S. military presence on the soil of its key Asian ally, amid tensions with China.

The talks aim to draw up rules for more rotational, or temporary, deployments of U.S. forces and military assets in the Philippines.

A 190-meter long cargo ship sank off Hong Kong Wednesday in a powerful typhoon that generated towering waves and forced much of the city to shut down, after leaving six dead in the Philippines.

The 21 crew of the bulk carrier Trans Summer abandoned ship as the vessel tipped on its side and sank 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Hong Kong, triggering a rescue that saw them plucked from the heavy seas by two helicopter teams and a passing ship.