New storms Parma and Melor form in Pacific

The tropical storm Parma is strengthening into a super typhoon. It could hit the north eastern coast of Luzon in the Philippines as early as Friday bringing more flooding and destruction, although it is far from Manila there still could be rain from the system in areas that are already badly flooded. East of Parma another storm still Melor is forming and moving west. It seems that there have been an unending series of natural disasters in Indonesia, Samoa, the Philippines and even Vietnam.

UPDATE: My wife talked on the phone with our daughter in Manila (who is high and dry) and flights from Manila to Legazpi where we have a house are cancelled and buses as well apparently. Legazpi is on the south eastern coast of Luzon. Ferries will no doubt be cancelled as well soon so people will be stranded in ports again. The storm will probably hit north of Legazpi but there could still be heavy rain and some winds.

""""Typhoon, Storms Form After Ketsana Hits Philippines (Update2)

By Aaron Sheldrick

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Parma strengthened to a typhoon and two more cyclones developed over the Pacific east of the Philippines, four days after Ketsana left 246 people dead in Luzon and killed 38 in Vietnam yesterday.

Parma was 1,075 kilometers (668 miles) east of Surigao in the southern Philippines at 2 p.m. Manila time today, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm's winds increased to 140 kilometers per hour, from 120 kph earlier, as it headed west-northwest at 31 kph.

Parma is forecast to keep strengthening and may approach the coast as early as Oct. 2, potentially bringing more rain to the Philippines, where water and mud still clog parts of Manila. The government has been criticized for responding too slowly to the disaster, and officials said they will be better prepared should this typhoon reach the Philippines.

"Pre-emptive evacuations will start with the local government when there is certainty that it will hit," Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told reporters in Manila.

To the east of Parma, Tropical Storm Melor strengthened from a depression and is forecast to become a typhoon within three days, according to the Navy center.

Melor, the 20th storm of the northwest Pacific season, was 1,945 kilometers east of Yap in Micronesia and moving northwest at 28 kph at 8 a.m. Manila time today. Melor's maximum sustained winds were at 74 kph and they are forecast to increase to 93 kph by 8 a.m. Manila time tomorrow. ....

Typhoon Ketsana smashed into central Vietnam yesterday with winds of 167 kilometers per hour, killing at least 38 people in the country after strengthening when it left the Philippines and moved over the South China Sea.

Almost 360,000 people were evacuated before the storm hit. Parts of the national power grid were damaged, causing outages and reducing the electricity supply in the northern and southern areas of the country during peak hours, Electricity of Vietnam said in a statement on the government's Web site.

The storm left at least 11 people dead in Cambodia after crossing Vietnam, Agence France-Presse reported.

Philippines Cleanup

Soldiers today were clearing streets in Marikina in northern Manila. Many streets are still coated in mud and cars with mud stains up to their roofs lay abandoned.

. .........

More than 2 million people in the Philippines were affected by the floods caused by Ketsana and 736,197 have been evacuated, the Philippines disaster council said today. Forty-two people are missing.

.....Ketsana is the name of a tree in Laos, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists names in use for Pacific storms on its Web site. Parma is the name of a ham and chicken dish in Macau and Melor is the Malaysian word for Jasmine flowers. """"