A group of Filipino farm workers huddles beneath a bridge Wednesday, August 8, amid rains and rising floodwaters north of Manila. Flooding caused by 10 days of torrential rains, worsened by the overflowing of three dams, has paralyzed 80% of the city. More than 70 people have died, and 263,000 residents have been displaced. 
Houses swamped by floodwaters in Bulacan province, north of Manila, in an aerial photograph released by the Department of National Defense on Wednesday. 
Filipino flood evacuees crowd around a truck giving out donated bread at an evacuation center in Marikina City, east of Manila. 
A child, one of the thousands of residents affected by the severe floodings, sleeps next to the family's dog at a temporary evacuation center. 
Residents use a coffin as a boat in floodwaters in Quezon city, Metro Manila. 
Residents are evacuated from their flooded homes in the village of Tumana, Marikina town, in suburban Manila. 
Residents cross floodwaters Wednesday during heavy flooding in Manila. 
A Manila resident pulls his dog to a rooftop refuge. More than 800,000 people in and around the Philippines capital battle deadly floods as more rain falls, with neck-deep waters trapping both slum dwellers and the wealthy elite on rooftops. 
Residents look at vehicles washed up by floodwaters. 
Displaced residents rest at an evacuation center inside a church in suburban Manila. 
Volunteers bag relief goods for flood victims in Bulacan, north of Manila. 
Rescuers maneuver down a flooded street as they evacuate residents in the village of Tumana in suburban Manila on Tuesday, August 7, after torrential rains inundated most of the capital. 
Aaron Demesa, an iReporter, took this image Tuesday of the North Luzon Expressway in the Manila village of Balintawak. 
A man tries to cross floodwaters by following a rope as other residents wait on their roofs in Manila. 
Residents wait for family members to be rescued at the end of a flooded street in the village of Tumana, a suburb of Manila on Tuesday, August 7. 
A resident pushes his bicycle through floodwaters in Quezon City in suburban Manila. 
A man clutches a pole in floodwaters after a river overflowed following torrential rain in Manila. 
A rescuer guides a man carrying his daughter on his back through a strong current. 
Motorists and passengers are trapped on the North Luzon Expressway as heavy rains continue Tuesday in Valenzuela City. 
Two men hang onto a basketball hoop in deep floodwaters in Manila. 
Rescuers dig through the rubble of a landslide caused by flooding as they try to rescue victims in Quezon City in suburban Manila. 
Rescue workers prepare to unload residents in the village of Tumana after their homes were flooded. 
Residents seek shelter on the roofs of their homes as floodwaters continue to rise in Manila. 
Residents wait on the roofs of buildings as rescuers make their way down a flooded street in Tumana. 
Rescuers in rubber boats evacuate residents from their homes in Tumana. 
- NEW: The death toll climbs to 19
- NEW: More than 3,000 homes have been damaged in the rains
- Flooding forces hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes
- More torrential rains Wednesday prevent people from starting the clean-up
Editor's note: Are you affected by the flooding in the Philippines? Share your story on CNN iReport.
Manila, Philippines (CNN) -- Thursday brought no break from the rain for nearly 2 million people in the Philippines, where a monsoon has caused heavy flooding, evacuations, and at least 19 deaths, disaster officials said.
Frequent rains over the main island of Luzon, where the capital is located, may trigger flash floods and landslides, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Scattered showers and thunderstorms were forecast for the southern island of Mindanao and for the Visayas islands south of Luzon.
The number of people killed in the rains since Monday rose to 19 on Thursday, the disaster council said. Most were victims of a landslide in the Manila suburb of Quezon City; others died of drowning or electrocution. Three others are missing, the council said.
More than 3,000 homes have been damaged in the rains, it said.
What's behind major flood disasters throughout Asia?
While it is the summer monsoon season in the Philippines, the rain and flooding were exacerbated by recent Tropical Storm Haikui, the Philippines weather service said. Haikui made landfall on the east coast of China early Wednesday.
The latest downpours came on top of days of rain that had already drenched the area, with August generally the wettest month of the year. Heavy wind and rain in the past few weeks already left 53 people dead.
As of 6 a.m. Thursday, more than 450,000 families -- or nearly 2 million people -- were affected by the rains and floods, the disaster council said.
It recorded "severe" flooding in 89 municipalities.
Typhoon Haikui strikes east coast of China
Some of the Manila region's 12 million residents returned to work Wednesday, with some stores reopening and heavy congestion on the sodden roads, but the real clean-up is expected to start Thursday.
Hundreds of thousands of people are now in emergency shelters, and it may be a while before they can safely leave, CNN forecaster Mari Ramos said.
An additional concern is that the water will take days, or perhaps weeks, to recede in the lower-lying areas, she said. There could also be further flooding "downstream" as the water drains through the flood plain in the southern portions of metro Manila near Laguna de Bay.
This is an area that frequently suffers from serious flooding and was one of the hardest hit during the historic flooding that came with Tropical Storm Ketsana (local name Ondoy) in 2009, Ramos said.
Tropical Storm Ernesto makes landfall
In an effort to save lives and make way for rescue and relief efforts, government offices and schools were closed Tuesday and Wednesday, the office of President Benigno Aquino said. Some schools will remain closed Thursday, PNA reported.
The Philippines had already been lashed by heavy rain and wind in recent weeks resulting from Tropical Storm Saola, which plowed past it before hitting Taiwan and China at the end of last week.
In December, Tropical Storm Washi left more than 1,200 people dead after it set off flash floods that swept away entire villages in the southern Philippines.
