REAL, Dec 1: Terrified survivors were on Wednesday fleeing the northeastern Philippines as a new storm bore down on the area where floods and landslides have killed more than 400 people and left nearly 200 missing.

Typhoon Nanmadol was expected to slam into the eastern coast of the main island of Luzon on Friday. Entire villages were washed away by a storm earlier this week and three towns were cut off and suffered heavy damage.

The new typhoon is packing winds of 175 kilometres (108.5 miles) per hour over the Pacific Ocean and is already bringing driving rain and strong winds to the devastated region, the government weather centre said.

The worst-hit coastal towns of Real, Infanta and General Nakar suffered 364 dead and 139 missing, said the civil defence office in Manila. At least 48 people were killed and 38 missing elsewhere on Luzon.

The government plans to ask the United States to provide search and rescue and engineering equipment, said Vice Admiral Ariston de los Reyes, military vice chief of staff. Four United Nations agencies have meanwhile pledged about 200,000 dollars in assistance, the defence department said.

In Real, the streets were strewn with logs and boulders. Some survivors queued up to board military trucks to carry them to safety while others fled on foot in small groups through the winding paths of the Sierra Madre mountains.

Many men were wearing only shorts and hauling heavy rucksacks. One man had a washing machine on his back, while another man begged for a place on a truck for him and his two-year-old son.

"You and I must leave now. The rains are coming again and I am afraid," said mud-caked grandmother Olympia Romantico, who had waded for 10 hours through mud to flee Real, her naked seven year-old granddaughter in tow.

Freddie Lanuza, 34, said he and his family had a miracle escape when a landslide struck two days ago. "There was a loud rumbling, like a clap of thunder up in the mountains. In less than seconds our house was gone.

"We waited for help for two days but none came. We had to leave otherwise we would starve to death," he added. Many of the dead and missing in Real were in a three-storey building at a beach resort that was being used as a makeshift evacuation centre when it collapsed at the height of the storm, civil defence officials said.

"I passed by there earlier and I saw people buried. The wife of one of my friends is also there," town resident Leopoldo Pusanga told AFP. President Gloria Arroyo, who just returned from a regional summit in Laos, called off plans to fly to the storm-hit areas after warnings that it was not safe for helicopters to fly.

About 100 soldiers armed with picks and shovels are to be sent to villages around Real on Thursday to look for survivors and to deliver food, said Air Force Colonel Jaime Buenaflor.

"We will have to walk and clear the roads and cross rivers if need be, regardless of the weather situation, because people are dying," he said. Residents have blamed the flooding on illegal logging and Arroyo ordered a crackdown. "Illegal logging must now be placed in the order of most serious crimes against our people," she said.

Civil defence officials said they had already prepared over 200 body bags for the dead as soon as they reach the three towns. Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered his condolences over the deaths.

Karzai was "deeply saddened by the news of landslides and floods in northeastern Philippines, resulting in the death of over 400 people," his office said in a statement. "On behalf of the Afghan people, I present my condolences to the families of the victims and to the people of the Philippines," Karzai was quoted as saying.

Military trucks, rubber boats, helicopters and boats, amphibious vehicles, rescue teams and army engineering units were being pre-positioned in areas expected to be hit by Typhoon Nanmadol, Vice Admiral de los Reyes said.

The Philippines was already in mourning after Typhoon Muifa and Tropical Storm Merbok hit the country in late November leaving 167 people dead and missing.