MANILA - Seen from a military helicopter flying above the sprawling city, Metro Manila was on Sunday covered by a sea of brown with islands of desperate people clinging to corrugated rooftops.

One man, wearing only shorts and sandals, held up a piece of paper appealing for help with the words "food" and "water" scrawled on it.

Elsewhere, residents who could not wait to be rescued waded through the water, carrying their children and anything else they could manage on their shoulders or heads.

Two men converted a car roof top into a makeshift raft, and hauled themselves by rope across what was once a road but now a river.

Elsewhere, dog and chicken carcasses floated in the water as rescuers in rubber boats struggled to navigate around mountains of debris.

The devastation extended across vast areas of Manila after the heaviest rain in more than 40 years sent torrents of water up to six meters (20 feet) high streaming across the city on Saturday.

The storm, which destroyed both shanty towns and upmarket suburbs, left at least 73 people dead and displaced more than 330,000, according to the government.

Banking executive Rachelle Solis was still in shock on Sunday after she and her two children, aged six and eight, were almost swept away.

Solis, 35, had taken the children to a daycare centre near the family home in a river-side northern Manila suburb. In a matter of minutes the water rose by about a meter and she decided to fetch her children.

Once there, Solis was forced to take her children across the torrent of water to reach higher ground. Their only way across was via a rope someone had set up above the waters across the road.

"We had no choice but to brave the flood. We couldn't wait for rescuers," Solis told AFP.

"We thought we were going to die. My children kept crying. The current was so strong and we were nearly swept away... there was debris smashing into our bodies. I kept thinking this couldn't happen to me, not in Manila."

Meanwhile, rescuers pushed on with efforts to reach those who remained stranded.

President Arroyo had ordered all rescue work to be completed by nightfall on Sunday, but as daylight faded many areas of the city remained under water and countless people were left to fend for themselves.

"Rescuers are not reaching the people inside the deeper areas," said Michael Ignas, 37, a tricycle driver in eastern Manila's Pasig city which was particularly hard hit.

Ignas said he had survived the flooding by seeking refuge on the second floor of a building. As he spoke, the water remained neck-deep in nearby areas.

For Red Cross volunteer Dave Barnuevo, the rescue work was proving almost impossibly difficult.

"I've never seen flooding this devastating in Manila," Barnuevo told AFP, as he led a small team of rescuers scouring Provident, a sprawling river-side community in Marikina city, east of Manila.

"The water is taking a long time to go down. The water is muddy and thick, and we have had to push our rubber boats in neck-deep waters in some areas."

In one section of the village, rescuers retrieved a dead boy covered in mud. They placed his body alongside those of two adults waiting to be claimed by relatives.