MANILA: One person was missing in the Philippines as heavy rains inundated parts of Manila and nearby areas with knee-deep floodwaters on Saturday, the authorities said.

The civil defence office told residents to prepare to evacuate as creeks and open sewers in the capital overflowed from overnight rains, swamping nearby slums as well as roads and causing traffic jams.

"Low-lying, flood-prone regions in (Manila and nearby provinces) are advised to take precaution. Usual high risk areas to flood are advised to evacuate residents," the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.

Local officials in the metropolis of 14 million declared a school holiday as floodwaters rose to knee-high in some areas, but no large-scale evacuations have been made so far.

The council said a man fell into a river and was carried off by strong currents in Lumban, a town near Manila, late Friday and remained missing.

Manila and nearby areas were pounded by torrential rainfall of more than 40 millimetres (1.6 inches) an hour early Saturday, said state weather forecaster Gener Quitlong.

While a storm was passing off the country's north coast, the bad weather in the capital was mostly caused by a seasonal monsoon, he told AFP.

The Binga dam in the northern Philippines released water as a precaution against a possible overflow, but other dams were still well below critical level, state flood forecaster Jimmy Enriquez told AFP. AGENCIES