By Aaron Sheldrick
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Supertyphoon Lupit weakened slightly east of the Philippines, where authorities are planning evacuations should the storm approach after the deaths of more than 770 people in cyclones since Sept. 26.
Lupit was 1,158 kilometers (719 miles) east-northeast of Palanan on Luzon island at 2 p.m. Philippines time today, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm was moving northwest at 19 kilometers per hour. Lupit’s maximum sustained winds fell to 241 kph from 250 kph earlier.
Lupit is forecast to swing to the west and approach northern Luzon by 2 p.m. on Oct. 22, according to the Navy’s five-day forecast. It’s expected to weaken by then, with its winds forecast to decline to 222 kph.
A state of calamity remains in effect after the island was devastated by Typhoon Parma and Tropical Storm Ketsana. The government is delivering food and other relief supplies to areas that may be cut off by Lupit, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said yesterday.
Lupit is a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale of cyclone strength. Such storms have winds of between 210 and 249 kph and are capable of causing “devastating damage,” according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Lupit means cruel in Tagalog, the main language of the Philippines, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists names in use for Pacific storms on its Web site.
Parma crossed Luzon three times earlier this month, leaving at least 438 people dead, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Fifty-one people remain missing while more than 32,000 are in evacuation centers.
Ketsana left 337 people dead and 37 missing when it crossed Luzon on Sept. 26.
To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo atasheldrick@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: October 19, 2009 04:58 EDT
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