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MANILA: Tropical storm Parma brought more heavy rains and misery to already flooded areas of the northern Philippines on Wednesday, as it hovered just off the coast for the third consecutive day.
While it had slightly weakened, Parma remained about 60 kilometres (37 miles) off the northwest coast of the main Luzon island, weather officials said.
The government warned residents of the region to beware of landslides and more dangerous floods.
Parma slammed into northern Luzon on Saturday, causing flooding that inundated vast tracts of farmland and claimed 16 lives.
It struck exactly a week after tropical storm Ketsana unleashed massive floods further south on Luzon in Manila and surrounding areas of the capital, affecting over four million people and leaving at least 295 dead.
Many areas in Manila and the northern provinces remain flooded, forcing some survivors to wade in neck-deep waters to get much-needed relief goods and others to simply live in partly submerged homes.
With more rain forecast for the Philippines, aid agencies said they were ramping up relief operations.
"Many needy people live in areas that still remain inaccessible because of the widespread flooding," the UN's World Food Programme country director Stephen Anderson said in a statement.
He said the agency had used boats and helicopters to deliver food, while the US military had also mobilised air assets to help in the effort.
The United Nations has issued an appeal to raise 74 million dollars needed to fund emergency assistance to the battered country.
US President Barack Obama also on Tuesday sent condolences to the Philippines, and said his government had set aside 1.8 million dollars for its Southeast Asian ally to help deal with the floods.
- AFP/so
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