A man reconstructs his house in the bay of Tacloban, Leyte province, Philippines, on Wednesday, November 27, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record, hit the country's eastern seaboard on November 8, leaving a wide swath of destruction, including more than 5,000 deaths.
(CNN) -- The unbearable stench of rotting flesh. The search for relatives under heaps of rubble. The desperate pleas for food and water.
This is the scene playing out across much of the eastern Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan tore through. Just a few days ago, Tacloban was a bustling city; now, it's a devastated wasteland.
How did this happen? Here's a moment-by-moment account of how the typhoon plowed through the Philippines and changed the lives of millions forever.
CNN OPEN STORY: Typhoon Haiyan's impact
Anxiety before the storm
Destroyed buildings are seen on the Philippines' Victory Island on Monday, November 11. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, wrecked the country on a monumental scale. Click through the gallery to see other aerial shots of the disaster.
Photos: Haiyan's wrath from above
Storm chaser helps save lives in Tacloban
Too many dead to count so far
Even before Super Typhoon Haiyan struck Friday morning, forecasters warned it might be the strongest storm in recorded history. It was 3.5 times more ferocious than Hurricane Katrina -- and big enough to stretch from Spain to Sweden.
More than 700,000 Filipinos heeded warnings and evacuated to Red Cross shelters, Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon said. But even emergency shelters proved no match for the storm. "People died there as well," Gordon said.
READ: Typhoon creates health crisis in the Philippines
The first hit
The deafening winds started howling around 5 a.m. Friday. That's when the super typhoon made landfall in the eastern Philippines.
But it wasn't the abysmal 380-kph (235-mph) wind gusts that pulverized Leyte province. It was the epic 5-meter-tall (16-foot-high) wall of ocean water that crushed the city of Tacloban, smashing houses and floating them away.
Within seconds, the storm surge ripped children out of their parents' arms and washed them out to sea.
Three of Marvin Isanan's daughters -- ages 8, 13 and 15 -- were among those torn away. Isanan and his wife later found the bodies of the two younger girls.
"Only the eldest one is missing," Isanan said through tears. "I hope she's alive."
INTERACTIVE: 'The one building that survived the storm'
Deadly debris in the water
Moments after the storm surge came the next danger -- countless hazards in the rushing water, now up to two stories high.
Bernadette Tenegra's daughter was impaled by wooden splinters from smashed houses. The mother tried to help, but her daughter insisted she leave her behind, Tenegra said.
"Ma, just let go. Save yourself," Tenegra quoted her daughter's last words to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Storm survivors desperate for aid
Storm survivors wait hours for fuel
CNN's Andrew Stevens and Tim Schwarz and a team of storm chasers chronicled Haiyan's wrath from a hotel in Tacloban. But they quickly realized they would have to jump into the water and double as rescue workers to save those on the ground floor.
"The water came up with such alarming speed that it caught these people off guard," storm chaser James Reynolds said. He can't shake "the chilling sound of a woman screaming desperately as she was smashing a window with her hands."
Armed with mattresses, they ferried an elderly woman and a disabled woman across waist-high stormwater. But one of Reynolds' colleagues, Mark Thomas, suffered a massive leg injury when a rusty, jagged piece of sheet metal sliced his shin to the bone from under the water.
READ: Typhoon Haiyan crushed town 'like giant hand from the sky'
Apocalyptic scene
As the mammoth flooding began to subside, it left behind a catastrophic scene -- heaps atop of heaps of rubble where people were still trapped.
By Saturday, officials found more than 100 bodies scattered on the streets of Tacloban. And that's just one city.
The Philippines has thousands of islands. And calculating the damage across all of them -- not to mention getting crucial aid to survivors -- has been greatly hindered by power outages, damaged airports and debris-covered roads.
The Philippine Red Cross chairman said Saturday it may be another day or two before aid can arrive in Tacloban.
"It really is an awful, awful situation," Gordon said.
Desperate for food and water, some residents broke into grocery stores to keep their families alive. Others found themselves suddenly without families.
Typhoon death toll continues to rise
Family goes through ceiling to flee storm
Survivors tell stories of terrible loss
"Our house got demolished," one woman told CNN affiliate ABS-CBN. "My father died after being hit by falling wooden debris. We are calling for your help. If possible, please bring us food. We don't have anything to eat."
One man said he was still trying to find six family members. "My child has been buried in that island," he said.
Pleas for aid
For days, residents decried what they called incredibly slow aid responses -- including by local authorities.
But there's a reason for that, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez said Tuesday.
"We were paralyzed here in the city government," the mayor said. "Out of 300 policemen, only less than 30 were able to make it and showed up. And many are still missing."
Some residents have gone days without food or water. In an act of desperation, many walked hours to the Tacloban airport searching for sustenance and a chance to escape.
"Get international help to come here now -- not tomorrow, now," Magina Fernandez said. "This is really, really, like, bad. Bad. Worse than hell."
The countless dead
No one knows how many people Haiyan killed. By Tuesday, officials had counted 1,774 of the bodies, but say that number may just be scratching the surface. Some say a death toll of 10,000 is entirely possible.
"We have bodies in the water, bodies on the bridges, bodies on the side of the road," the Philippine Red Cross chairman said.
The Tacloban mayor added that untold numbers of bodies are also hidden under rubble.
More concerns ahead
The thick stench of decomposing bodies forced many survivors to cover their faces with towels or shirts. But between grieving the dead and fighting for their own survival, it may be among the least of their worries.
But the next concern is sanitation -- and whether those bodies could lead to a wave of disease.
Surrounded by rubble, children swarmed around a public well in Tacloban. They doused themselves with water and fill plastic cups and jugs.
"Even though we're not sure that it is clean and safe," Roselda Sumapit said, "we still drink it, because we need to survive."
CNN's Andrew Stevens, Paula Hancocks, Anna Coren and Ivan Watson in the Philippines and Brandon Miller in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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A man rests on his damaged house along the shore in Tacloban on Monday, November 25.
Road traffic moves past destroyed houses in Palo, Leyte province, on Sunday, November 24, weeks after typhoon Haiyan caused heavy damage to life and property in the Philippines.
A woman rests inside the damaged Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in Tacloban, Philippines, on Sunday, November 24.
A woman looks over the devastated waterfront in Tacloban on November 24.
Typhoon survivors walk down a road in Palo, Philppines, during a procession for typhoon victims on November 24.
A vehicle lies in the water in Tacloban on Saturday, November 23.
A man searches through the debris in Tacloban on November 23.
A man scavenges piles of wood amid damaged container vessels on November 23 in Tacloban.
Local people begin to help clear debris near the shoreline where several tankers ran aground on November 23 in Leyte. The death toll from the storm stands at more than 5,000, according to a government-run news agency.
A man clears debris from in front of his home near the shoreline on November 23 in Leyte.
Groups of men clear debris near the shoreline on November 23 in Tacloban.
Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan inspect the damage to their houses in Tacloban, Philippines, on Friday, November 22.
Filpinos clear rubble from a hard-hit area in Tacloban on November 22.
An airplane lands in Tacloban as Antonio Lacasa rebuilds his house on Thursday, November 21.
People carry a coffin through an opening in the wall of a public cemetery for burial in Tacloban on November 21.
A member of the Philippine air force drops relief goods for survivors in Tolosa on November 21.
Children blow bubbles in a destroyed market in Tacloban on Wednesday, November 20.
Workers clear mud and debris in Tacloban on November 20.
A boy climbs across debris in Tacloban on November 20.
People at the airport in Tacloban react to a blast of wind from an aircraft on November 20.
A man walks through water in the typhoon-ravaged city of Tacloban, Philippines, on November 20.
A man sleeps on Tuesday, November 19, on a tanker that ran aground during Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban.
Firemen unload bodies November 19 for forensic experts to register and bury in a mass grave outside of Tacloban.
Firemen unload more victims outside of Tacloban on November 19.
A man fans the flames of a fire in Tanauan, Philippines, on November 19.
Survivors salvage wood next to stranded ships in Tacloban on November 19.
Philippine military personnel carry an injured survivor to an evacuation flight at the Tacloban airport November 19.
People in Tacloban march in the rain November 19 during a procession calling for courage and resilience among survivors.
People play cards by candlelight Monday, November 18, in Tacloban.
A U.S. Navy helicopter delivers relief goods to typhoon victims in Ormoc, Philippines, on November 18.
Men take food back to their families in Leyte on November 18. Countries all over the world have pledged relief aid to those affected by the typhoon, but damage to airports and roads have made moving the aid very difficult.
People are held back as the U.S. Navy delivers aid from a helicopter in San Jose, Philippines, on November 18.
A helicopter flies over a call for help in Ormoc on November 18.
A man cleans up mud inside a church in the hard-hit city of Tacloban on November 18.
A boy bathes November 18 at a Tacloban school turned into a temporary shelter.
Hundreds of typhoon survivors are packed into a U.S. military airplane November 18 for evacuation from Tacloban's airport.
Typhoon survivors run toward a passing U.S. Navy helicopter in San Jose on November 18.
A boy holding a toy machine gun sits Sunday, November 17, on a ship that ran aground in Tacloban.
People gather around a helicopter as it delivers relief supplies November 17 in Guiuan, Philippines.
Filipinos board an HC-130 Hercules airplane as U.S. sailors carry relief supplies November 17 in Guiuan.
Survivors clean mannequins found among the debris in Tacloban on November 17.
A man leans against a statue of the Crucifixion before a Mass at Santo Nino Church in Tacloban on November 17.
A man carries a piece of wood from the debris in Tacloban on November 17.
Survivors wait in line in Tacloban for relief goods on November 17.
A man looks over the devastation from his damaged home in Tacloban on November 17.
A trapped resident braves the dust created by a U.S. Navy helicopter taking off Saturday, November 16, on Manicani Island, Philippines.
Corpses are collected and loaded on trucks to be taken to mass graves in Tacloban on November 16.
A victim's corpse floats on a river in Tanauan on November 16.
A pregnant survivor waits to give birth in a hospital November 16 in Tanauan.
A dead dog lies in front of a house destroyed by the typhoon in Tanauan.
A man carries a bicycle as he walks through the ruins of a Tacloban building November 16.
Survivors of the typhoon stand in a Tanauan street partially blocked by debris November 16.
An elderly survivor walks past toppled cars outside a church in Tacloban on November 16.
A man in Tanauan cleans meat after slaughtering his only cow that survived the typhoon.
Survivors gather in Tacloban to await transport to a neighboring province on November 16.
Men carry a coffin toward a Leyte cemetery on November 16.
A survivor cooks dinner in front of his damaged home in Marabut, Philippines, on Friday, November 15.
Toppled coconut trees dot a mountain in an area devastated by the typhoon in Leyte province.
A typhoon survivor keeps her husband alive by manually pumping air into his lungs after his leg was amputated at a Tacloban hospital November 15. The hospital has been operating without power since the typhoon.
A survivor reacts to the damage at a residential area in Tacloban on November 15.
Typhoon victims are treated in the lobby of a Tacloban hospital on November 15.
Philippine Army soldiers carry the body of a civilian in Tanauan on November 15.
Residents wait to board a Singaporean cargo plane at the Tacloban airport on November 15. Many survivors have converged on the city's airport to wait for flights.
Search and retrieval teams carry a body bag in Tacloban on November 15.
Haiyan survivors carry food that a U.S. military helicopter dropped off in Guiuan on Thursday, November 14.
Dozens of bodies are placed near Tacloban City Hall on November 14 as workers prepare a mass grave on the outskirts of the hard-hit city.
A girl plays inside her house amid the devastation in Tacloban on November 14.
A Filipino soldier hands out bread to survivors in Maraboth, Philippines, on November 14.
A boy takes cover from rain while waiting for an evacuation flight from Tacloban's airport November 14.
Workers arrange bodies at a mass burial site at a Tacloban cemetery November 14.
The weary wait for evacuation from Tacloban on November 14.
A truck lies in the water in Hernani, Philippines, on November 14.
Children play with fallen power lines near a damaged school in Guiuan on November 14.
Teresa Mazeda hangs laundry in the ruins of her Tacloban home on Wednesday, November 13.
Nina Duran searches for belongings at her family's destroyed house in Tacloban on November 13.
Survivors walk through the ruins of their neighborhood outside Tacloban on November 13.
A man sits in front of his destroyed business November 13 in Tacloban.
A family, desperate to charge their mobile phones to search for family and friends, tries to use a ceiling fan to generate electricity November 13 in the Philippine province of Cebu.
An injured man in Tacloban rests beneath a picture of Jesus Christ on November 13.
A man takes a shower amid the rubble in Tacloban on November 13.
A rescue team wades into Tacloban floodwater to retrieve a body on November 13.
Residents take shelter in a Tacloban church on November 13.
Residents make their way through a destroyed neighborhood in Tacloban on November 13.
A boy cycles past a coffin left on a street in Tacloban on November 13.
A man looks at his destroyed home November 13 in Tacloban.
Body bags are lined up in Tacloban on November 13.
Survivors prepare to board a military plane November 13 at the Tacloban airport.
Men walk through smoke as they burn debris from a Tacloban church on November 16.
An aerial view of Tanuan shows signs pleading for help and food November 13.
Soldiers help a woman after she collapsed November 13 while waiting in line to board a military plane at Tacloban's airport.
Survivors wait to be evacuated from Tacloban on November 13.
An injured survivor gets carried on a stretcher before being airlifted from Tacloban's airport November 13.
A survivor begins to rebuild his house in Tacloban on November 13.
Evacuees wait to board a military aircraft in Leyte on Tuesday, November 12.
People walk through damage in Tacloban on November 12.
A young man waits at the airport November 12 in hopes of being evacuated from Tacloban.
A woman comforts a crying relative as a plane leaves the Tacloban airport November 12.
A man sits crying on a packed aircraft in Tacloban on November 12.
Debris lays scattered around a damaged home near the Tacloban airport on November 12.
A girl sits inside a bus as she waits for a ferry in Matnog, Philippines, on November 12.
Police line up bodies for processing in Tacloban on November 12.
People in Tacloban pass debris on November 11.
Survivors in Tacloban board a military plane bound for the Philippine capital of Manila on November 11.
Residents carry bags of rice from a Tacloban warehouse that they stormed November 11 because of a food shortage.
A woman in Tacloban walks amid the debris of destroyed houses on November 11.
People make their way across a flooded street in Shangsi, China, on November 11. Haiyan moved toward Vietnam and south China after devastating the Philippines.
Buildings lie in ruins on Eastern Samar's Victory Island.
Emily Ortega rests on November 11 after giving birth to Bea Joy at an improvised clinic at the Tacloban airport.
U.S. Marine Corps Osprey aircraft arrive at Manila's Villamor Airbase to deliver humanitarian aid on November 11.
People ride past destruction in Tacloban on Sunday, November 10.
A body lies amid the Tacloban devastation on November 10.
People cover their noses to block the smell of bodies in Tacloban on November 10.
Bodies of victims lie along a Tacloban road on November 10.
A large boat sits aground, surrounded by debris in Tacloban on November 10.
People walk past the Tacloban devastation on November 10.
People stand under a shelter in Tacloban.
A girl peeks out from a makeshift shelter in Tacloban.
Typhoon survivors wait to receive relief goods at the Tacloban airport on November 10.
A woman mourns in front of her husband's dead body November 10 in Tacloban.
Fallen trees litter the ground at the Tacloban airport on Saturday, November 9.
A resident passes victims' bodies on a Tacloban street November 9.
People in Tacloban carry a victim of the typhoon November 9.
A vehicle lies amid Tacloban debris on November 9.
People walk past a victim left on the side of a road in Tacloban.
A resident passes an overturned car in Tacloban on November 9.
Rescue workers carry a woman about to give birth November 9 at a makeshift medical center at the Tacloban airport.
An airport lies in ruins in Tacloban.
Astronaut Karen L. Nyberg took a picture of the typhoon from the International Space Station on November 9.
Women walk past fallen trees and destroyed houses in Tacloban on November 9. Residents scoured supermarkets for water and food as they slowly emerged on streets littered with debris.
A soldier pulls a cable inside the devastated airport tower in Tacloban.
Tacloban houses are destroyed by the strong winds caused by the typhoon.
Dark clouds brought by Haiyan loom over Manila skyscrapers on November 8.
A woman carries a baby across a river November 8 at a coastal village in Las Pinas, Philippines.
A resident walks along a fishing village in Bacoor, Philippines, on November 8.
A house in Legazpi, Philippines, is engulfed by storm surge November 8.
A child wraps himself in a blanket inside a makeshift house along a Bacoor fishing village.
A woman and her children head for an evacuation center November 8 amid strong winds in Cebu City, Philippines.
Huge waves from Haiyan hit the shoreline in Legazpi on November 8.
A fisherman lifts a post to reinforce his home at a coastal village in Las Pinas on November 8.
A resident unloads nets off a fishing boat in Bacoor on November 8.
Residents reinforce their homes in Las Pinas on November 8.
The storm approaches the Philippines in this satellite image taken Thursday, November 7, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Workers bring down a billboard in Makati, Philippines, on November 7 before Haiyan makes landfall.
Philippine Coast Guard personnel stand in formation beside newly acquired rubber boats after a blessing ceremony in Manila on Wednesday, November 6. The boats were to be deployed to the central Philippines in preparation for Haiyan.
Guiuan, Philippines, on November 11
Victory Island on November 11
Guiuan on November 11
Tacloban, Philippines, on November 11
Guiuan on November 11
Guiuan on November 11
Guiuan on November 11
Capiz, Philippines, on November 11
Guiuan on November 11
Eastern Samar province on November 11
Iloilo, Philippines, on Saturday, November 9
Guiuan on November 11
Guiuan on November 11
Tacloban on November 9
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