MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines on Friday raised an alert in a dozen northern provinces for the second major typhoon in a week while workers were still struggling to move 120,000 people to safety after the previous storm unleashed flooding on the main Luzon island.
The weather bureau said Typhoon Nalgae, packing centre winds of 140 kph (85 miles) and gusts of up to 170 kph, was expected to intensify before it made landfall in the rice-producing Cagayan province on Saturday morning.
"Nalgae can trigger landslides and worsen floods," Graciano Yumul, head of the weather bureau, told a news conference, warning local officials and residents to start moving to higher and safer grounds.
Yumul said Nalgae, locally known as Quiel, is gathering
speed and strength in the Pacific and was moving westward at 26 kph. It has a diameter of 500 km that had already brought rain to northeastern provinces, he added.
Nalgae will be the second typhoon to make landfall on Luzon in less than a week, inducing the southwest monsoon to dump more rains and flooding wide areas north of the capital.
"We need to move all those in danger, in particular, let us help each other persuade fisherfolks and residents of coastal, low-lying and mountainous areas to be on alert and be extra cautious," President Benigno Aquino said in a statement.
Typhoon Nesat left 43 people dead and destroyed about 4 billion pesos ($91 million) worth of crops and infrastructure early this week, the disaster agency said.
It killed one person on the southern Chinese resort island of Hainan, which is also in the path of Nelgae.
Nesat damaged more than 100,000 tonnes of rice in Central Luzon alone, and could mean the country needs to import more rice, the head of the state grain agency said.
It also caused massive flooding in parts of Luzon, and officials fear Nelgae could worsen the problem.
Towns in Pampanga and Bulacan, provinces north of the capital, were flooded and water levels continued to rise on Friday as officials had to release water from full dams nearby to make room for the rains Nalgae would bring.
Television images showed people wading in chest-deep floodwaters in Bulacan's main roads, while others were marooned on the roofs of their houses, waving for help.
"We don't know why water is rising because there are no more rains," Maribeth Galang, a resident of Calumpit town in Bulacan province, said in a television interview.
"We're appealing for help. We're running out of potable water, food and there's no electricity. Where are the rescue people?"
Local officials appealed to people to move to safer areas.
"We're asking you to leave now, don't wait for us because we have limited manpower and resources," Lilia Pineda, governor of Pampanga province.
(Reporting By Manny Mogato; Editing by John Mair)
