PALIN MITENK BLOG

By JIM GOMEZ
The Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines — Landslides buried two families in the Philippines as they sheltered in their homes from Asia's latest deadly typhoon, which killed at least 16 people and left more than a dozen flooded villages cut off Sunday.

Police Senior Superintendent Loreto Espineli said a family of five, including a 1-year-old boy, died when their home in Benguet province was buried as Typhoon Parma hit Saturday. Seven people, including another family of five, were buried in a nearby village, he said.

Officials had earlier listed four people as being killed in the typhoon, which cut a destructive path across the northern Philippines but spared the capital, Manila.

Parma hit just eight days after an earlier storm left Manila awash in the worst flooding in four decades, killing almost 300 people.

Parma was churning over the South China Sea on Sunday, as troops in southern Taiwan helped to evacuate villages that could be hit next. The Central Weather Bureau said Parma should miss the island, but it could still bring heavy rain to flood- and landslide-prone areas still recovering from a deadly typhoon in August.

Tens of thousands of Filipinos fled to higher ground as Parma bore down on the main island of Luzon, packing winds of 108 mph (175 kph) and driving rain. Towns in half a dozen provinces were battered, and downpours swelledrivers to bursting, officials said.

About 14 farming villages at the mouth of the Cagayan River were flooded when it overflowed, forcing some residents to clamber onto their roofs, Mayor Ismael Tumaru of nearby Aparri town told The Associated Press by mobile phone.

A part of a seawall collapsed, worsening the flooding in some coastal villages.

Navy, coast guard and police rescuers plucked many villagers to safety but at least one village remained isolated by floodwaters. There has been no report so far of casualties, he said.

"We're like at sea," Tumaru said as he inspected an inundated village by boat. "This used to be a rice field with roads and power posts. Now, it's just water everywhere."

Power, phone lines and internet links were down across the north, making it difficult to get reports about the extent of damage, Armand Araneta, a civil defense official responsible for several northern provinces.

"We really got the brunt of the wind," he said by phone from Tuguegarao city, capital of Cagayan province. "Many trees fell here. The winds knocked down cables, telephone lines — even our windows got shattered by the strong winds."

Manila escaped the worst of the storm. On Sept. 26, Tropical Storm Ketsana killed at least 288 people and damaged the homes of 3 million. Ketsana went on to kill 99 in Vietnam, 14 in Cambodia and 16 in Laos.

Parma caps a week of destruction in the Asia-Pacific region: an earthquake Wednesday in Indonesia, a tsunami Tuesday in the Samoan islands, and Ketsana.

Another typhoon, Melor, was churning Sunday in the Philippine Sea, 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) to the east.



Scavengers sift through a mountain of garbage temporarily piled on a city street in the eastern Manila district of Pasig October 3, 2009. At least three people died as Typhoon Parma tore roofs of houses and dumped heavy rain across the Philippines, piling further misery on the Southeast Asian nation after floods claimed 293 lives. However the typhoon stayed away from Manila, sparing millions of people who were struggling to recover from more of the type of rains that submerged most of the capital a week earlier.



A farmer punts his way across a flooded rice paddy with squatter huts and the city at rear on the outskirts of Manila on October 3, 2009. Typhoon Parma pummeled the northern Philippines on October 3, toppling trees and cutting off power and telephone lines, as its rains threatened to bring more misery to millions of flood survivors in Manila.



Residents use boats and rafts to travel along a still-flooded main thoroughfare on the outskirts of Manila on October 3, 2009. Typhoon Parma pummeled the northern Philippines on October 3, toppling trees and cutting off power and telephone lines, as its rains threatened to bring more misery to millions of flood survivors in Manila.



A woman and a boy walks through a flooded squatter area on the outskirts of Manila on October 3, 2009. Typhoon Parma pummeled the northern Philippines on October 3, toppling trees and cutting off power and telephone lines, as its rains threatened to bring more misery to millions of flood survivors in Manila.



A man peddles his way through a flooded squatter area on the outskirts of Manila on October 3, 2009. Typhoon Parma pummeled the northern Philippines on October 3, toppling trees and cutting off power and telephone lines, as its rains threatened to bring more misery to millions of flood survivors in Manila.



A woman makes her way through strong winds from Typhoon Parma as it hits Tuguegarao City, Luzon island, northern Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. Powerful winds toppled power poles and trees Saturday in the northern Philippines as the second typhoon in eight days bore down on the country.



A U.S. Marine (C) helps Philippine Army soldiers unload goods at a village during a relief distribution at San Mateo, Rizal in Metro Manila October 3, 2009. A powerful typhoon slammed into the northeastern tip of the Philippines on Saturday, tearing roofs off houses and uprooting trees, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Officials said Typhoon Parma, the strongest typhoon to hit the country since 2006, may not be as destructive as feared since it had made landfall in the sparsely-populated Cagayan province and would weaken over land.



An evacuee boils water in a school cramped with displaced families in the eastern Manila district of Pasig on October 3, 2009. At least three people died as Typhoon Parma tore roofs of houses and dumped heavy rain across the Philippines, piling further misery on the Southeast Asian nation after floods claimed 293 lives. However the typhoon stayed away from Manila, sparing millions of people who were struggling to recover from more of the type of rains that submerged most of the capital a week earlier



Latest typhoon kills 4 in Philippines, sparing capital, before churning toward Taiwan

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press Writer
MANILA, Philippines October 3, 2009 (AP)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines military rushed Sunday toward villages cut off by floodwaters from Asia's latest deadly storm, which killed at least four across the northern part of the country but spared the capital.

Typhoon Parma was churning through the South China Sea as troops in southern Taiwan helped to evacuate villages that could be hit next. The Central Weather Bureau said Parma should miss the island, but it could still bring heavy rain to flood- and landslide-prone areas still recovering from a deadly typhoon in August.

Tens of thousands of Filipinos fled to higher ground as Parma bore down on the main island of Luzon just eight days after an earlier storm left Manila awash in the worst flooding in four decades, killing almost 300 people.

Winds of 108 mph (175 kph) battered towns in half a dozen provinces, and downpours swelled rivers to bursting, officials said.

In Isabela province, one man drowned and another died from exposure to the cold and wet weather, said Lt. Col. Loreto Magundayao of an army division based there.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said another two people died in eastern Camarines Sur, as one man fell from a roof and a 2-year-old boy drowned.

About 14 villages at the mouth of the Cagayan River were flooded when a seawall collapsed, forcing some residents to clamber onto their roofs, the mayor of nearby Aparri town told The Associated Press.

"A few of these floods were at roof level," he said. "Some people were on roofs and some of them were evacuated last night, but the rescuers were not able to reach others immediately."

The navy was bringing rubber boats to try to rescue people still stranded, he said.

Power, phone lines and internet links were down across the north, making it difficult to get reports about the extent of damage, Armand Araneta, a civil defense official responsible for several northern provinces, told the AP.

In Ilagan, Isabela's capital, the swollen Cagayan River rose enough to swamp two bridges, officials said. In the Cagayan city of Tuguegarao, telephone landlines were down and mobile services were intermittent, said Chito Castro, regional director for the Office of Civil Defense.

Ahead of the storm, weather bureau chief Prisco Nilo warned that heavy rain could trigger landslides and flooding, and strong winds could create tidal surges along the eastern coast. None of those conditions were reported by Saturday night.

Manila escaped the worst of the storm. On Sept. 26, Tropical Storm Ketsana caused the worst flooding in four decades, killing at least 288 people and damaging the homes of 3 million.

Rain fell in the city most of Saturday, and stiff gusts of winds blew, but no new flooding or damage was immediately reported.

Even before the storm hit, officials in eastern provinces judged they were no longer in danger and began moving back people who had been evacuated from coastal areas that might have been in the path of the storm.

After devastating parts of Manila, Ketsana went on to hit other Southeast Asian countries, killing 99 in Vietnam, 14 in Cambodia and 16 in Laos.

Parma was part of more than a week of destruction in the Asia-Pacific region that has claimed more than 1,500 lives so far: an earthquake Wednesday in Indonesia; a tsunami Tuesday in the Samoan islands, and Ketsana.

Another typhoon, Melor, was churning in the Philippine Sea, 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) to the east, threatening the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Most businesses there were shut Saturday morning, and residents of the island of Saipan who don't live in concrete homes moved to typhoon shelters, said Charles Reyes, Northern Marianas Gov. Benigno Fitial's press secretary.


Credit photo: Reuters,Gettyimages,Ap
source: abcnews