Oh lordie! I feel for those people in the Philipines - this next typhoon is MASSIVE

[LynneSin]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/02/world/main5358294.shtml

CBS/AP) The flood-ravaged Philippines is bracing for what could be a super typhoon (a category 4 or 5 in the U.S.), even as residents of the capital and outlying areas have barely recovered from last weekend's record rainfall that killed at least 293 people in the country.

CBS News' Barnaby Lo, reporting from Manila, said Typhoon Parma is forecast to hit the Northeast coast on Saturday, with winds of up to 120 mph and gusts up to 140 mph.

Although it is not expected to bring as much rain as Tropical Storm Ketsana did, any additional rain could hamper ongoing relief and clean-up efforts, as well as bring greater distress to the more than 3 million people affected by last week's epic flooding.

A massive evacuation is underway, with tens of thousands of villagers in mountain slopes, low-lying and coastal areas fleeing the likely path of Parma. There are now more than 80,000 families in evacuation centers.

Heavy rain drenched mountainous coastal regions in the northeast as Parma tracked ominously toward the coast.

Water has not receded in some areas just outside of the capital. Garbage and debris still litter the streets, and the water levels in rivers, lakes and dams have reached near-record highs, so any more rain is likely to cause more flooding.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Those poor people. :^(

[Swede]

2. The dams and lakes around Manila are full,there is nowhere for the water.

This could be a major catastrophe.

[PVnRT]

3. I wonder if there will be DUers blaming them for living there

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. for that they have to have knowledge of the region and be fed this info by the media

since neither of these conditions will be met, i am going to go with no

(assuming you are making a new orleans reference?)

[PVnRT]

7. New Orleans, Mississippi River, anywhere where a hurricane hits...

The usual drill.

[LynneSin]

9. My mentality about New Orleans - it's one of the oldest cities in the country

it's been around for 300 years and somehow managed to survive all these years. Perhaps if our goverment heeded reports that said the Levee system needed an upgrade we wouldn't have seen this issue. But then again for 8 years we had a government that ignored warnings like that. Broken Leevees, Hijacked Plans - who cares just enjoy vacation. :grr:

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Of course there will.

There always are.

As though there is anywhere in the world that is always absolutely safe from natural phenomena.

[philosophie_en_rose]

4. DUers who are able can donate to the Red Cross.

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.1a019a978f421296e81ec89e43181aa0/?vgnextoid=e0c1a4a601304210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD

[LynneSin]

6. I've been donating thru my work, we have team members in Manila

and I met a really nice person from an online game that I play whose house was flooded.

This is just devestating - it's like watching Katrina all over again and now Wilma is smacking into the Phillipines