Most of the deaths are reported from the island of Cebu. Several towns on the island have been flooded and videos show cars, trucks and containers being swept away by the waters.
"The situation in Cebu is unprecedented. We thought the winds would be dangerous, but it is the water that is really putting our people at risk," provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro wrote in a post on social media.
387,000 people have been evacuated from the typhoon's path, according to authorities in the country. Many have been forced to seek shelter from rising water levels on the roofs of houses and cars.
Hundreds of people are still living in tents after their homes were destroyed in an earthquake in late September. According to Rhon Ramos, a spokesman for Cebu province, they have now been evacuated.
According to the weather service Accuweather, Kalmaegi is expected to move westward over the Western Visayas region, then increase in strength over the ocean as it moves northwest toward Vietnam and Cambodia in the next few days.
