At least 54 people were killed as tropical storm Ketsana battered a wide area in the Philippines, dumping record rainfall on the capital, officials said Sunday.

Twenty-one people were missing in floods and landslides caused by Ketsana, according to Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who also heads the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).

Authorities rushed rescue and relief to thousands of people who spent the night on the roofs of their submerged houses in Manila and surrounding provinces.

Teodoro said rescue teams were able to penetrate more areas now as the weather improved and floods receded in the affected municipalities.

'The US government has dispatched a helicopter and additional rubber boats to help in the rescue,' he said. 'We will continue our rescue operations until everyone that needs help is reached.'

The weather bureau said the rainfall recorded Saturday in Manila was the capital's 'greatest' amount of rain since 1967.

Nilo Prisco, head of the weather bureau, said Ketsana dumped 410.6 mm of rain in Manila in just nine hours.

The amount exceeded the average monthly rainfall of 391 mm and the 1967 record of 331 mm.

'We can attribute this to climate change,' he said.

The NDCC said more than 279,000 people were affected by Ketsana, which was continuing to move away from the Philippines toward the South China Sea.

The weather bureau said Ketsana strengthened overnight with maximum winds reaching 95 kilometres per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 120 kmph.

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