Ophelia, the fourth hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season, was located 695 miles (1,120 kilometers) south-southeast of Bermuda, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its 0900 GMT advisory.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour and was moving north-northwest at a speed of almost nine miles an hour.

The NHC said Bermuda would face tropical storm-force winds on Saturday when the eye of the storm passes to the east of the island, but Ophelia is expected to continue north and steer well clear of the US coastline.

Hurricane Irene, the most severe of the previous three hurricanes, unleashed deadly floods and storm surges in the eastern United States.

Typhoon Nesat pummelled the main island of Luzon on Tuesday, killing at least 43 people and leaving 30 others missing as it dumped the biggest single-day volume of rain on the disaster-weary country this year.

Large areas remain flooded with some villages enduring water nearly two storeys high, and the government said another typhoon was expected to dump just as much rain as Nesat over the same areas this weekend.

"You must help us warn these people to move to higher ground," National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management chief Benito Ramos told AFP.

"The problem is, the floodwaters from Nesat have not ebbed. Water-soaked soil is prone to landslides and flash floods."

The second typhoon, named Nalgae, was due to hit Luzon, home to 48 million people, on Saturday with peak winds of 140 kilometres (80 miles) an hour, the state weather service said.

Ramos said churches, schools and gymnasiums were being prepared for people to seek refuge.

About 160,000 flood victims were already in state-run evacuation camps due to Nesat, with at least one million people across Luzon affected, he said.

But many of those affected people remained in the flooded areas, choosing a soaked existence in their homes with their families and friends over crowded, poorly equipped evacuation centres.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 major storms a year and those living in the flat, farming plains of Luzon are used to dealing with floods each year as torrents of water run down from the mountains.

Residents of Candaba, a farming town in central Luzon about two hours' drive north of Manila, also told AFP they had little choice but to remain in their flooded homes as they could not afford to go elsewhere.

"We won't be fleeing to another town because that costs a lot of money, which we do not have," said Eddie Martin, a truck driver who has not been paid in a week because his vehicle could not pass through the flooded roads.

The Philippines has one of the worst poverty rates in Asia, with about a quarter of the population living on a dollar a day or less, according to government figures.

President Benigno Aquino issued a statement praising the preparation efforts, but said more needed to be done to convince people living in danger zones to seek shelter before the typhoon struck.

"Let me emphasise, we need to move all those in danger," Aquino said.

"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."

Coast guard commandant Admiral Ramon Liwag said that rescue teams had stayed in place near where they had pulled people from rooftops earlier this week in case they were needed again.

"We have teams in place and we will be monitoring the situation closely over the next few hours," Liwag told AFP, stressing there were no rescue operations on Friday.

Nesat also shut down Manila on Tuesday, with the vast rain band of the typhoon reaching the sprawling city of 12 million people.

However the new typhoon was expected to have a smaller footprint and Manila should be spared the worst of the weekend weather, forecaster Sonny Pajarillo told AFP.