MANILA, Philippines — Philippine disaster-response agencies packed tons of food aid, readied helicopters and prepared a massive evacuation plan in the mountainous north Sunday as another typhoon threatened the country after back-to-back storms killed more than 800 people.
Typhoon Lupit, roaring over the Pacific Ocean with winds of 108 mph and gusts of 130 mph, will likely spare the capital, Manila, but could slam into other parts of the north in about three days, said chief weather forecaster Prisco Nilo.
Lupit is the 18th tropical storm to threaten the country this year. About 20 typhoons or storms lash the Philippines annually.
The Philippines is still grappling with the deadly aftermath of Tropical Storm Ketsana, which struck Sept. 16 and triggered the worst flooding in Manila in more than 40 years. It was followed by Typhoon Parma on Oct. 3, which lingered for a week, drenching northern mountain provinces and causing landslides that buried many homes.
The two storms killed 818 people and inundated the homes of more than 7 million. Hundreds were still in emergency shelters in landslide-hit Benguet province, 130 miles north of Manila, when news of the new typhoon spread.
Despite assurance that Manila would likely be spared a direct hit, many of its residents were jittery.
“We’re scared. We’ve not even recovered from the last flooding, and here comes another typhoon,” said Gerardo Martin, who was pushing a cartload of paying commuters across the still-flooded streets of suburban Pasig City.
Health officials say 1.7 million people exposed to floodwaters in and around metropolitan Manila from the last storms were being threatened by leptospirosis, a disease spread by water contaminated with urine of infected animals. The disease has killed 96 of 1,336 people who have been brought to hospitals for treatment, officials said.
