Phillippines ? A typhoon has battered the Philippine capital and surrounding provinces still reeling from recent flooding, killing at least 14 people and sending residents of one town clambering onto rooftops to escape rising waters, officials said today.

Typhoon Mirinae was the fourth storm to lash the northern Philippines since late September and brought new hardship to areas still struggling in the wake of the previous disasters. Nearly 95,000 people who fled during two prior storms were still living in temporary shelters when Mirinae struck Saturday, the national disaster agency said.

The storm headed out to sea and was swirling 279 miles southwest of Manila early today but could still bring rains and thunderstorms to western Palawan province, forecasters said. The storm was over the South China Sea and appeared to be heading toward Vietnam, they said.