Richmond's large Filipino community is scrambling to find ways to help relatives living in the Philippines who lost nearly everything in the wake of flooding caused by last month's powerful typhoon that dropped 30 days worth of rain in just a few short hours.

Richmond's Marty Banting said his family lives in one of the hardest hit regions near the capital city of Manila, which was hit by the worst flooding the country has seen in 40 years.

In his family's village, which is surrounded on three sides by a river, Typhoon Ketsana's downpour caused the river to swell and overflow its banks, swamping residential areas.

One of Banting's relatives recounted a conversation with family living in Provident Village.

"The flood water rose so fast. It was 7 feet high by 10 a.m.! When Tita (Aunt) Nita and Tito (Uncle) Bal decided to go out of their house, the water was up to her neck. She was already swallowing water, trying to keep her neck above water. Her son Alex, helped her to climb up the outside grills of their window on the side of the house near the garage. Their next-door neighbor climbed out of his fire exit to get onto his roof, and threw a blanket to Tita Nita and Alex to hang on to so he could pull them up," Arsi wrote.

"The (three) of them waited on the roof the whole night, with Bobby coming out of the fire exit now and then to give them biscuits and drinks."

Millions of people have been directly impacted by the flooding which left more than three quarters of Manila under water and claimed the lives of more than 250 people.

While it's been a couple weeks since the flood waters receded, it could take months before life returns to normal.

"Everything that they had there was either wiped out or buried in mud," Banting said of his family.

While in many parts of the Philippines, swollen rivers toppled homes, his family's house remains standing.

But now there are questions whether the home is safe to occupy, and concern has turned to disease and illness outbreaks.

The roadways continue to be clogged with a mix of mud and backed-up raw sewage which has left a pervasive bad smell and made transportation a nightmare in the already traffic-congested city.

"We've been raising funds within the family and just through friends and people who want to help out," Banting said.

Banting, who was born and raised in Richmond, said if his family hadn't moved to Canada in the 1970s, they would probably have been living in this hard-hit part of the city.

Banting lives in Steveston, not far from the dyke, and the events half a world away have made him wonder.

"It's in the back of your mind, what could happen here."

The immediate need in the Philippines is money, to purchase food, water and medical supplies.

The Enspire Foundation, a non-profit organization that in 2006 built a library in one of the Philippines' most impoverished cities, hosted a fundraising event on Tuesday evening, and is accepting donations for the relief effort via its website at www.enspire-foundation.org.

Donations can also be made to the Red Cross, which on Wednesday announced that nine Canadian banks are now accepting donations in support of Red Cross relief efforts relating to the typhoons in the Philippines and Vietnam, a tsunami in Samoa and an earthquake in Indonesia.

Donations can also be made online (see redcross.ca) or by calling 1-800-418-1111.