yeah, a dead cow. and it looks like behind it there s the body of a person covered in a green cloth. and that s not an uncommon sight here unfortunately still five days into this storm. our andrew stephens went out with the mayor of tacloban. here s what he saw. reporter: in tacloban city, they re calling him the ghost. many people here thought that the city s mayor, alfred romaldez, had died in the typhoon. i was in that building, which is by the beach. and the waves were hitting the roof of that building. reporter: he s taking me to the scene of his miraculous escape. this was the family resort in the hardest-hit part of the city, right on the edge of the sea.
everywhere around here. there s a, it s a cow, it s a dead cow, it looks like behind it there s a body of a person covered in a green cloth. that s not an uncommon sight here unfortunately, five days into this storm. one reporter went out with the mayor, and here s what they saw. reporter: in tacloban city, they re calling him the ghost. many people here thought that the city s mayor had died in the typhoon. he. i was in that building which is by the beach. and the waves were hitting the roof of the building. reporter: he s take me to the scene of his miraculous escape. this was the family resort in the hardest hit part of the city, right on the edge of the
and the waves were hitting the roof of that building. he s taking me to the scene of his miraculous escape. this was the family resort in the hardest-hit part of the city, right on the edge of the sea. he takes me through the shattered shell. the mayor and 14 others were here when haiyan struck. the surge devastated the building, six-in-thick concrete walls were smashed like tissue paper, he says. then suddenly boom the door bang, the other one door blasted open. water gushed in. reporter: as the waters rose, seven took their chances outside while the mayor and the rest climbed into the ceiling space. here the water was going up. so we had to go all the way in there where we climbed all the way up here. reporter: here. no.
his miraculous escape. this was the family resort in the hardest hit part of the city right on the edge of the sea. he takes me through the shattered shell, the mayor and 14 others were here when high ends struck. another concrete wall there. the surge devastated the building, 6-inch-thick concrete walls were smashed like tissue paper he says. suddenly boom, the door blank. blasted open, water gushed in. as the waters rose, seven took their chances outside while the mayor and the rest climbed into the ceiling space. the water was going up. so we had to go all the way in there where we climbed all the way up here no, we had to move over there. and how high did the water go? almost to the ceiling here. and there they stayed until
[ speaking foreign language ] reporter: la saline, a sprawling slum at the edge of the sea. this is not earthquake damage. no, no, no, no. reporter: it s part market, part trash heap, a place where sewage and animals and children share space. there are children everywhere,