Filipinos brace for typhoon after earlier storm kills 293

TENS of thousands of villagers fled the likely path of a powerful typhoon bearing down yesterday on the Philippines, as the government braced for the possibility of a second disaster just days after a storm killed more than 420 in four southeast Asian countries.

Heavy rain drenched mountainous coastal regions in the north-east as Typhoon Parma tracked ominously toward the coast, dropping heavy rain on areas still saturated from the worst flooding in 40 years.

Parma was forecast to hit the east coast today, packing sustained winds of up to 195 kmph and gusts up to 230 kmph. Officials fear it may develop into a “super-typhoon”.