(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-25 19:30

MANILA -- Although typhoon Mitag was maintaining its course toward northern Luzon, the Philippine capital Metro Manila remained on full alert on Sunday to prepare for heavy rains and winds that could wide-sweep the area.

Residents ride a boat after a lake overflows and submerge their houses as Typhoon Mitag nears at Camarines Sur, south of Manila November 25, 2007. Heavy rain from an approaching typhoon lashed the Philippines on Sunday, killing at least six people and destroying homes and rice paddies, officials said. [Agencies]

Local radio dzBB said that rescue teams are still on standby in Manila, Makati City and Muntinlupa City in accordance with the order of the cities' mayors.

In Makati City, Mayor Jejomar Binay forbade rescue teams from taking a leave during the weekend, while rescue teams and equipment remained stationed at Manila Bay facing downtown Manila.

Local governments in Metro Manila were also placed on alert after the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) forecasted that Mitag would hit Bicol and southern Luzon near Metro Manila.

But Mitag spared Bicol and moved further in a northwest direction Saturday toward Auroro and Isabela provinces in northern Luzon Saturday night, said the PAGASA.

The PAGASA expected the typhoon to make a landfall in northern Luzon on Monday.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said Sunday more than 2,200 passengers remained stranded in ports in southern Luzon, Bicol and eastern Visayas due the threat from Mitag.

The NDCC also said floods caused by heavy rains in some parts of the country had affected some 5,500 families or some 28,000 people in southern Luzon and Palawan Island.

The NDCC, which coordinates anti-disaster efforts by several government agencies and bodies including that of national defense, said on Saturday some 100,000 people in the northeastern part of the country would be evacuated.

The Philippines was hit by a series of strong typhoons in the last quarter of 2006, in which hundreds of people were killed.