REAL, Philippines - Flash floods and landslides triggered by back-to-back storms that lashed the northeastern Philippines had killed more than 600 people by today, with nearly 400 still missing, military officials said. Some 170,000 have fled their homes for higher ground.

Rescuers scrambled to reach thousands stranded by the storms. Mudslides and flash floods have turned entire provinces facing the Pacific Ocean into a sea of chocolate-brown mud littered with bodies, uprooted trees, collapsed homes and bridges.

Health authorities urged local officials to quickly bury the dead to avoid disease.

"We're getting reports of bodies still floating in the rivers," said air force spokesman Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla.

The brunt of the devastation was wrought by a tropical storm that blew through northeastern provinces on Monday and Tuesday, killing at least 527 people, the military's Chief of Staff Gen. Efren Abu said today.

Hardest hit was the province of Quezon, where 484 bodies have been recovered and 352 were still missing.

Typhoon Nanmadol struck the same storm-hit region late Thursday.

While Quezon province bore the brunt of the storms, about 100 people were found dead in the isolated village of Dumingan in Aurora province, about 60 miles northeast of Manila, Maj. Gen. Romeo Tolentino told ABS-CBN TV.

"We found out today that there is a district in the village of Dumingan where more or less 100 people are dead," he said. "Our soldiers now are helping the populace to recover the survivors and bury the dead."

Tolentino, the regional military commander, said it was not clear whether those 100 had died from the storm on Monday or from the typhoon.

He said the coastal village could not be easily reached because landslides were blocking the road.

"There were landslides and our civilians were going hungry," he said. "Some were wet. So they are really pitiful."

At least 30 other people were reported killed in Aurora province from the typhoon, including 25 in a landslide, the Office of Civil Defense reported.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appealed to the nation to "come together ... (and) reach out to those who need help."

Exact casualty figures were hard to establish because many towns were cut off by landslides.