"Super Typhoon" Bears Down On Philippines

(CBS/AP)  Last Updated 11:36 p.m. ET

Filipinos braced Saturday for their second typhoon in eight days, though the storm weakened just hours before it was due to hit and the threat of another disaster in the flood-soaked capital eased.

Better news for the Philippines was bad news for Taiwan, which issued a storm warning and began evacuating villages in the south as Typhoon Parma headed more sharply north toward the island.

Parma was dropping heavy rain across the Philippines' main island of Luzon on Saturday including many areas still recovering from a Sept. 26 storm that inundated large parts of Manila and killed almost 300 people.

But the storm was pushed farther north overnight Friday, and Manila was no longer at risk of a new deluge, said chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz. It's even possible that the storm might not make landfall, reported CBS News' Barnaby Lo, reporting from Manila. The storm's sustained winds also eased slightly, to 108 mph, down from 121 mph on Friday.

"It is good news, especially for those whose houses are still under water," Cruz said at a briefing Saturday morning. "But 175 (kph winds) can still uproot trees and destroy houses and blown down roofs."

Parma was due to strike the Philippines' northeastern tip on Saturday night, instead of hitting north-central Luzon on Saturday afternoon, as earlier forecast.

The danger was easing in provinces south of the capital. In Albay province, governor Joey Salceda said he had ordered more than 76,000 people who had been evacuated from their homes in the past few days to be sent home.

Tens of thousands of others were still huddled in relief shelters or with friends after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered people in flood- and landslide-prone areas in six provinces to be evacuated.

A nationwide "state of calamity" ordered by Arroyo was still in place, designed to let authorities respond quickly if another disaster occurs.

Typhoon Ketsana on Sept. 26 caused the worst flooding in 40 years across the northern Philippines, damaging the homes of more than 2 million people. The Philippines National Disaster Coordinating Council on Saturday lowered the death toll from the Ketsana storm by five to 288.

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

It 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 Typhoon Ketsana across Southeast Asia.

Many places in Manila are still chest-deep in water, or covered in thick mud and garbage.

In Quezon City, residents turned from cleaning up after Ketsana to trying to secure their belongings from the risk of more flooding.

"We do not know what to do or where we can go," said resident Bebang De Los Santos. "We don't have a way out and this is the only place that is safe, but we don't have any shelter."

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau issued a storm warning for Parma on Saturday. This prompted officials to start evacuating villages in the southern county of Kaohsiung, where a typhoon in August triggered flash flooding that killed about 700, said local official Lin Chun-chieh.

One danger in Manila was posed by Lake Laguna, which rose more than 3.3 feet as Ketsana passed and was in danger of spilling over into districts housing some 100,000 people if there is much more rain, said Ed Manda, general manager of the Laguna Lake Development Authority.

[Ichabod09]

Ironic in that California's collection of tragedies and the world's weird collection of problems has become so common place that the blogs don't appear to have much interest in discussion-it's all been said before.

nother storm? nother earthquake? Ho Hum. Wonder what's new at Hulu?

[rf35]

What, no mention that these are the global warming super-storms we were promised? Or maybe those are only a product of man-made global warming, not the natural climate change we are seeing that has occured since the formation of Earth's atmosphere.

[amazedd]

What can you say, duck and cover?

[islandergrl_vegas]

My cousin is getting married today and my mom and dad flew down there last Monday. My whole family lives there. I come from a family where my dad has 13 brothers and sisters and my mom has 4 brothers and sisters and all the brothers and sisters have more than 2 kids and my biological mother is there too with my 6 brothers and sisters, I think I'm going to break down.

[Ichabod09]

"Obama claims"

Not mention or in relation to the article.

[jimbryho]

leave it to dummazz dichrom to bash obama in an article that doesn't even mention his name. spit your venom somewhere else.

[Ichabod09]

Dichrom has found a new word for his literary form of masturbashion-"Anthropogenic". He has used it in other posts-wish he would do his literary jurkoff elsewhere.

[grantham6810]

my wife and 4 yaer old son flew just 2 days ago to the phillippines to visit her sick father now im more nervous than ever knowing this storm is on the verge of land fall i feel helpless but i know god is in control and will keep them safe i pray for everyone in the phillippines that god will touch you all and keep you from harms way and i also pray for the victoms of the other terrible events in the last three days to my wife i love you both and pray for your safe return to the states just put your faith in god and all will be alright god speed to the phillippines and all the world.

[stuart-johns1]

These people are going through some tough times for sure. Perhaps, one can only hope, that this storm passes by the Phillipines. That country is not as equipped as we are to withstand a storm of this magnitude. Hundreds, even thousands will perish. What a sad deal for them.

[jwesel1]

Send Bush's FEMA director "Mike you're doing a great job" there.