Typhoon Haiyan
© Reuters / Erik De CastroA view of destroyed houses after super Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city in central Philippines November 9, 2013
An estimated 10,000 people might have been killed in the central Philippine province of Leyte alone, which was almost completely destroyed by the powerful typhoon Haiyan, local authorities said.

The typhoon has devastated up to 80 percent of the Leyte province area as it ripped through the Philippines, Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria told Reuters.

"We had a meeting last night with the governor and other officials. The governor said based on their estimate, 10,000 died," Soria said.

The Red Cross said earlier that 1,200 people we confirmed dead in the Philippines.

Philippine Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said on Saturday that it was too early to announce any final figures.

"The rescue operation is ongoing. We expect a very high number of fatalities as well as injured," Roxas told AP. "All systems, all vestiges of modern living - communications, power, water - all are down. Media is down, so there is no way to communicate with the people in a mass sort of way."