Typhoon weakens slightly as Philippines braces

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Filipinos braced today for their second typhoon in eight days, though the storm weakened just hours before it was due to hit and the threat of another disaster in the flood-soaked capital eased.

Better news for the Philippines was bad news for Taiwan, which issued a storm warning and began evacuating villages in the south as Typhoon Parma headed more sharply north toward the island.

Parma was dropping heavy rain across the Philippines' main island of Luzon today including many areas still recovering from a Sept. 26 storm that inundated large parts of Manila and killed almost 300 people.

But the storm was pushed farther north overnight Friday, and Manila was no longer at risk of a new deluge, said chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz. The storm's sustained winds also eased slightly, to 108 mph, down from 121 mph on Friday.

"It is good news, especially for those whose houses are still under water," Cruz said at a briefing this morning. "But 175 (kph winds) can still uproot trees and destroy houses and blown down roofs."

Parma was due to strike the Philippines' northeastern tip tonight, instead of hitting north-central Luzon this afternoon, as earlier forecasted.

The danger was easing in provinces south of the capital. In Albay province, governor Joey Salceda said he had ordered more than 76,000 people who had been evacuated from their homes in the past few days to be sent home.

Tens of thousands of others were still huddled in relief shelters or with friends after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered people in flood- and landslide-prone areas in six provinces to be evacuated.

A nationwide "state of calamity" ordered by Arroyo was still in place, designed to let authorities respond quickly if another disaster occurs.