The Philippines reels from Typhoon Koppu - in pictures

A man holds onto a rope as he tries to board a truck while crossing floodwaters brought by typhoon Koppu that battered Candaba town, Pampanga province, north of Manila. Romeo Ranoco / Reuters

Residents wade in floodwaters brought by typhoon Koppu that battered Candaba town, Pampanga province, north of Manila. Typhoon Koppu swept across the northern Philippines, killing at least nine people as trees, power lines and walls were toppled and flood waters spread far from riverbeds, but tens of thousands of people were evacuated in time. Romeo Ranoco / Reuters

Residents hold onto a rope while crossing floodwaters brought by typhoon Koppu that battered Candaba town, Pampanga province. Disaster-response agencies said there was still a danger that rains dumped by Tropical Storm Koppu in mountain areas may flood rivers and put hundreds of downstream villages at risk. Romeo Ranoco / Reuters

A farmer uses a tyre as a float as he tries to remove water lilies in a flooded rice field in Jaen, Nueva Ecija in northern Philippines, after the province was hit by Typhoon Koppu. Erik De Castro / Reuters

Filipino typhoon victims rest inside a flooded shelter at the flood-hit village of Santa Rosa, Nueva Ecija province, northern Manila, Philippines. Philippine emergency teams were attempting to reach victims stranded by flooding from Typhoon Koppu and began clearing areas damaged by the storm which battered the north of the country. Soldiers, police officers and other emergency workers were dispatched to the northern province of Nueva Ecija, a rice-growing province where murky floodwaters reached up to rooftops in some places. Francis R Malasig / EPA

A man tends to his water buffalo amidst the debris that litter a road, two days after Typhoon Koppu battered Cabanatuan city and nearby provinces, in the northern Philippines. Slow-moving Typhoon Koppu blew ashore with fierce wind in the northeastern Philippines early Sunday, toppling trees and knocking out power and communications and forcing the evacuation of thousands of villagers. Bullit Marquez / AP

Commuters ride a farm tractor as it maneouvers through strong floodwaters along a highway in La Paz township, Tarlac province in northern Philippines. Two days after Typhoon Koppu battered the northern Philippines, residents began cleaning up their muddied homes. Bullit Marquez / AP

A boy plays on a flooded street in Jaen, Nueva Ecija in northern Philippines, after the province was hit by Typhoon Koppu. A typhoon swept across the northern Philippines, killing at least nine people as trees, power lines and walls were toppled and flood waters spread far from riverbeds, but tens of thousands of people were evacuated in time. Erik De Castro / Reuters

A storm finally blew away from the main northern Philippine island Tuesday, after leaving at least 20 dead over the weekend and forcing 70,000 villagers into emergency shelters and destroying rice fields ready for harvest.