Aaron Favila / AP

Philippine Navy personnel arrange coffins that will be shipped with drinking water, clothes and other relief goods to flood-stricken Cagayan De Oro and Iligan cities on board a navy ship in Manila, Philippines on Dec. 20, 2011.

Rolex Dela Pena / EPA

Philippine Navy personnel carry donated caskets to be transported by a Navy ship to flood affected provinces from military headquarters in Manila on Dec. 20, 2011.

Erik De Castro / Reuters

Unidentified typhoon victims, inside coffins and body bags, lie near a road awaiting identification by their relatives near Iligan city on Dec. 20, 2011.

The Associated Press reports from ILIGAN, Philippines:

The government shipped more than 400 coffins to two flood-stricken cities in the southern Philippines on Tuesday as the death toll neared 1,000 and President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of national calamity.

The latest count listed 957 dead and 49 missing and is expected to climb further as additional bodies are recovered from the sea and mud in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities.

A handful of morgues are overwhelmed and running out of coffins and formaldehyde for embalming. Aid workers appealed for bottled water, blankets, tents and clothes for many of 45,000 in crowded evacuation centers.

Navy sailors in Manila loaded a ship with 437 white wooden coffins to help local authorities handle the staggering number of dead. Also on the way were containers with thousands of water bottles.

Most of the dead were women and children who drowned Friday night when flash floods triggered by a tropical storm gushed into homes while people were asleep. Continue reading.

Related content:

• PhotoBlog: Philippines counts the cost of Typhoon Washi
• Slideshow: Typhoon strikes the Philippines

Richel Umel / Reuters

An aerial view shows damage caused by floods following Typhoon Washi in Iligan City, in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao on Dec. 19, 2011.

Dennis M Sabangan / EPA

People search for their belongings in a village that was devastated by rampaging flood waters, in Iligan on Dec. 19, 2011.

Ted Aljibe / AFP - Getty Images

A resident stands next to an overturned vehicle swept away at the height of the devastating floods, in Iligan on Dec. 19, 2011, two days day after Typhoon Washi wrought havoc in the city.

Erik De Castro / Reuters

Policemen search for missing Typhoon Washi victims in a subdivision of Iligan city on Dec. 19, 2011.

msnbc.com news services report from ILIGAN, Philippines :

 With funeral parlors overwhelmed, authorities in a flood-stricken southern Philippine city on Monday organized the first mass burial of some of nearly 700 people who were swept to their deaths in one of worst calamities to strike the region in decades.

The staggering death toll from Friday night's disaster, spawned by a tropical storm, remained little changed but the number of missing varied widely. Official figures put the missing at 82, while the Philippine Red Cross estimated 800.

"We lost count of how many are missing," said Benito Ramos, head of the government's Office of Civil Defense.

Disaster agencies delivered body bags, food, water, and medicine to crowded evacuation centers throughout the region.

The government said nearly 143,000 people were affected by the flash floods and landslides. Read the full story.

More photos in our slideshow.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Storm, floods hits south Philippines