The death toll from Typhoon Parma, which hammered the northern coast of the Philippines early Saturday, has hit 16 as officials announced that landslides buried two families as they hid from the storm in their homes.
Parma swept through the Philippines Saturday before heading out to sea, where it hovered late Sunday less than 100 kilometres off the coast. It is expected to remain in the area for a few days.
According to Police Senior Superintendent Loreto Espineli, five members of the same family, including a one-year-old boy, died when their home in Benguet province was buried under a landslide.
Seven others, including another family of five, were buried in a neighbouring village, he said.
The 12 victims join the four dead that were announced by officials Saturday.
Parma was the second storm system to hit the Philippines in just over a week. Tropical Storm Ketsana hammered the capital, Manila, which experienced its worst flooding in 40 years. Nearly 300 people were killed in the Philippines before the storm hit other Southeast Asian countries, killing another 200 people.
In the south of the country, at least five cities were shaken Sunday by an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5. But officials said there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.
Meanwhile, Parma collided with another typhoon further east over the Pacific Ocean after passing across the Philippines. That has caused it to cycle back near the Philippine coast. While it is unlikely the storm will cross back over the country, it will likely lead to heavy rain for the next three days.
"I hope it won't return," National Disaster Co-ordinating Council chief Gilbert Teodoro said Sunday after flying over the north in a helicopter. "We still need to do pre-emptive evacuations in that case, until there is no more danger."
After his flyover, Teodoro reported seeing flood waters up to people's knees and waists.
As Parma hit the main island of Luzon Saturday, it carried 175 kilometre-per-hour winds and driving rain.
More than a dozen farming villages near the Cagayan River flooded, sending residents to seek safety on their rooftops.
Navy, coast guard and police crews rescued villagers.
But rescue and relief efforts are being hampered by flooding, power outages and downed power lines across the north, according to Neil Bauman of the International Federation of the Red Cross.
"We just can't seem to get to people," Bauman told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel in a telephone interview from Manila Sunday morning. "So distribution of materials is going to be hard for the next week or so."
After passing across the Philippines, Parma has moved close enough to Taiwan to cause heavy rain there. Taiwanese troops were preparing for possible floods on Sunday by evacuating southern villages and loading sandbags.
The storm would not likely hit Taiwan directly, the Central Weather Bureau said, but heavy rain could still cause major problems.
With files from The Associated Press
