15 dead as Typhoon Parma whips Philippines

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines (CNN) -- Typhoon Parma crossed the northern tip of the already storm-battered Philippines over the weekend, triggering landslides that killed at least 12 people, local media reported Sunday. At least three other deaths related to the storms were confirmed earlier.

Among the latest victims were children ages 8 and 10, a local reporter who was at the scene of both landslides told CNN.

The storm is expected to stall for at least three days north of Luzon dumping more rain on the island nation still reeling from a typhoon last week, said CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.

Heavy rains will remain, but wind will not be much of a factor, Cabrera said.

At 11 p.m. ET on Saturday, Parma had maximum sustained winds of 120 kph ( 74 mph), Cabrera said.

Parma, known locally as Typhoon Pepeng, made landfall Saturday afternoon in a rural region of fishermen and farmers in Luzon, the largest of the Philippine islands. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes for safer shelter.

Winds whipped the coastline and felled power lines in northernmost Cagayan Province. Debris littered the roads, making evacuations more difficult.

Parma avoided a direct hit on heavily populated Manila.

The typhoon is expected to dump as much as 8 to 20 inches of rain in areas still water-logged from last week's Typhoon Ketsana. That storm resulted in the heaviest rainfall in 40 years and at one point, 80 percent of Manila was submerged.

Ketsana, which swallowed whole houses and buses, killed 246 in the Philippines. It later strengthened into a typhoon. An additional 38 are missing, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said. The storm affected nearly 2 million people.

World Vision, the Christian humanitarian organization, was planning to launch relief operations Saturday evening in Isabela Province, one of the areas slammed by Parma. The group also plans assistance for nearby Cagayan province, whose capital, Tuguegarao, is being hit hard by Parma's strong winds.

Arturo Fidelino, a telecommunications executive in Manila, described panicked people rushing to stock up on essential goods -- drinking water, canned food and electrical supplies.

"We had a traumatic experience when we had Ketsana," he said. "We don't want that to happen again."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo placed the country "under the state of calamity."

Macapagal-Arroyo said disaster-relief crews in vulnerable areas must be equipped with life-saving kits, boats, portable generators and trucks