MANILA, Philippines—The death toll from Storm Ondoy rose to 280 on Thursday and the number of people crammed in more over 700 temporary shelters ballooned to more than 680,000 as government agencies scrambled to prepare for a new typhoon roaring toward Northern Luzon.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr., head of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, spent the whole day Thursday moving around provinces to deliver warnings and inform local officials of urgent steps to take when Typhoon Pepeng is expected to slam ashore somewhere in northern Luzon over the weekend.

"We will go around the provinces to brief local disaster coordinating councils of what to expect and what to do once the typhoon strikes us because we need to be ready as early as now," said Teodoro in an early morning briefing Thursday.

NDCC Executive Officer Glenn Rabonza said weather experts expect the new typhoon to hit Isabela by Saturday and its vast cloud band to bring heavy rains to Central Luzon and Metro Manila, where some districts remain submerged in floodwaters dumped by Ondoy last week.

"We must prepare for the typhoon and the most critical is on Saturday and Sunday," Rabonza told reporters in an interview at Camp Aguinaldo.

Teodoro and other government officials met with all local civil defense coordinators across Metro Manila before he flew to La Union, Cagayan and Pampanga.

In the meeting, Teodoro stressed the need for local government units to identify temporary shelters and resort to pre-emptive evacuation of residents in vulnerable areas to avoid further casualties.

Extended relief operations were also raised as part of the preparations for Typhoon Pepeng.

The latest NDCC report said 280 people were killed, 5 injured and 42 missing since Ondoy dumped torrential rains on the capital and surrounding provinces on Saturday.

People in the 726 evacuation centers—363 in Metro Manila, 48 in Region III, 313 in Region IV-A, one each in Region IX and XII—have also been advised not to return to their homes in view of the approaching Pepeng, which officials said could develop into a super typhoon.

Speedier cleanup of roadways and waterways across the metropolis was also ordered on Thursday.

"We are just recovering and since there are existing debris from Typhoon Ondoy that are yet to be collected and cleared, then we might have a problem," said Interior Undersecretary Melchor Rosales, who attended the meeting with Teodoro.

Teodoro also announced that Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III has opened three landfills—in Rodriguez, San Mateo and Morong—for the disposal of debris from Ondoy.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy announced Thursday that disaster response teams, equipped with rubber boats, portable generators, M35 trucks and life-saving kits, have already been fielded in Cagayan, La Union, Pangasinan and Zambales.

Each team consists of 15 enlisted personnel, according to Navy spokesperson Lt. Col. Egdard Arevalo. Naval reservists residing in Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija have been placed on alert status, he added.