More than 30 people have drowned in a Philippine town after torrents of water dumped by a powerful typhoon cascaded down a mountain, engulfing emergency shelters.

The deaths raised the toll from one of the strongest storms to hit the country this year to at least 41.

Rain from Typhoon Bopha accumulated on top of a mountain then burst down on Andap village, in New Bataan town in hard-hit Compostela Valley province. The victims included villagers who had fled from their homes to a school and village hall, which were then swamped by the flash flood.

An army truck carrying soldiers and villagers was also washed away.

Bopha slammed into the southern Davao Oriental province region at dawn, its ferocious winds ripping roofs from homes and rain flooding low-lying farmland.

Two provinces lost power and more than 100 domestic flights were cancelled. About 60,000 people fled to emergency shelters.

The dead included three children who were buried by a wall of mud and boulders that plunged down a mountain in Marapat village, also in Compostela Valley.

“The only thing we could do was to save ourselves. It was too late for us to rescue them,” said Valentin Pabilana, who survived the landslide.