Large parts of the northern Philippines were flooded and without power on Sunday after Typhoon Parma killed at least 15 people, but authorities expressed relief it was not as strong as feared.
Exactly one week after the heaviest rains in more than four decades devastated Manila, killing nearly 300 people, Parma ripped through the north of the Philippines' main Luzon island on Saturday.
Many areas in the north remained blacked out and cut off from communication on Sunday as Parma left the country and hovered over the South China Sea, while roads were submerged or littered with fallen trees and toppled power lines.
The state weather bureau warned that the worst may not be over, as typhoon Melor, monitored some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) to east in the Pacific Ocean, may suck Parma back to the country.
"It is possible that it (Parma) will make U-turn and will hit Luzon again," forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said, adding that Parma was already 'interacting' with Melor, preventing it from moving farther out in the South China Sea.
Two separate landslides buried homes in the province of Benguet, killing 12 people on Saturday, provincial police director Chief Superintendent Loreto Espinili said.
The fatalities were on top of three casualties earlier reported by other authorities elsewhere.
Parma first slammed into the northern province of Cagayan on Saturday and caused major damage there, local authorities reported.
"The winds were very strong. There is no power here. There is extensive damage to houses, electrical posts were toppled," Delfin Ting, mayor of Tuguegarao, the capital city of Cagayan, told local radio.
However, he said there had been no immediate reports of casualties in Cagayan after authorities evacuated nearly 170,000 people in Parma's path before it struck.
Bellaflor Angara, governor of Aurora province also in the north, said swathes of rice fields were under water, which could cause supply problems in the next few months.
"The rains heavily damaged our rice fields," she said over local radio. "We are trying to bring back everything to normal, but that will take time."
Nevertheless, the government had earlier forecast that Parma would be a 'Super Typhoon', capable of causing much greater destruction. Authorities said they were relieved that it weakened before hitting the Philippines.
"On the whole I think we were spared from the wrath of a Super Typhoon," said Glenn Rabonza, the executive officer of the National Disaster Coordinating Council.
Northern provinces were also still experiencing strong winds and rains on Sunday even as Parma moved away from the country, the national weather bureau said.
The agriculture department said the two storms had caused at least 5.5 billion pesos (117 million dollars) in damage. Most of this was from the loss of rice that was due for harvesting.
While supply for the crop is assured for the year, President Gloria Arroyo ordered agriculture officials to import rice to augment stocks for 2010.
Meanwhile, many areas in Manila and nearby eastern provinces remained flooded more than a week after tropical storm Ketsana dumped a month's worth of rain in nine hours.
Of the more than 3.3 million affected by the floods, nearly 400,000 remained in evacuation centres scattered across the city.
International aid has been trickling in, although authorities said many areas remain under-served amid warnings of disease outbreaks in overcrowded camps.
Source: AFP Asian Edition
