( CNN ) -- The grim toll from a typhoon that devastated southern Philippines earlier this month continues to climb , with 1,020 reported dead as of Sunday morning , authorities said . Officials fear the toll from the December 4 storm will rise further . Because while rescue crews continue searching , the chances of finding people alive dim with each passing day . With 844 still missing and 1.2 million families displaced , Bopha is the strongest and deadliest storm to hit the Philippines this year , according to the country 's emergency management agency . Among the missing are hundreds of fishermen who went to sea before the storm hit . Officials hope that they could yet be found sheltering on small islands out at sea . If the death toll continues to rise , Bopha could eventually prove deadlier than Tropical Storm Washi , which killed 1,268 people a year ago . But its toll would still remain far below that of Tropical Storm Thelma , the country 's most lethal storm on record that left more than 5,000 people dead in 1991 . The worst of the death and destruction from Bopha took place on the southern island of Mindanao , where the storm hit first and hardest with gusts as strong as 220 kph ( 138 mph ) . The storm , known locally as Pablo , was the most powerful typhoon to hit Mindanao in decades . It set off flash floods and landslides that engulfed people sheltering in their rickety houses in remote , unprepared regions of the island .
The chances of finding them alive increase with each passing day . More than 844 are still missing . Among them are hundreds of fishermen . This is the deadliest storm to hit the country this year .