Manila - Strong winds and rains on Thursday began to whip the extreme northern Philippines as Typhoon Lupit accelerated toward the country. Huge waves battered the coast, where hundreds of people prepared to flee their homes. Rough seas also prevented small boats from leaving port.
Nathaniel Cruz, the government's chief weather forecaster, said Lupit was forecast to make morning in Cagayan province, 405 kilometres north of Manila.
Lupit is to hit as the Philippines struggles to recover from two back-to-back storms that killed 902 people and destroyed more than 616 million dollars worth of infrastructure and crops.
Lupit sped up Thursday afternoon after staying almost stationary over the north-eastern coast overnight and bore down on the country at 13 kilometres per hour.
Its strength, however, was reduced to maximum sustained winds of 160 kph and gusts of up to 195 kph.
"Cagayan and other provinces in the northern Luzon region are now experiencing stormy weather," Cruz said. "There will be occasional rains and gusty winds over Central Luzon."
He urged residents to watch out for storm surges in the affected provinces, noting that a sea wall in Cagayan had already been destroyed.
Prisco Nilo, head of the weather bureau, said Lupit was expected to stay over the northern Philippines for 12 hours after hitting land.
"If it maintains its track, this would be good because there will be less accumulated rainfall," he said.
Nilo said there was only a low probability that Lupit would veer away and head toward Taiwan instead of hitting land in the Philippines.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo urged the public to pray that Lupit would spare the Philippines from more devastation.
"Let us pray that the typhoon spares us," she said in a speech. "Let us pray for everyone who has lost hope because of the calamities still wreaking havoc on parts of our islands."
The weather bureau has placed 25 provinces under storm warning signals because of Lupit.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council said more than 37,000 disaster relief response and rescue personnel from various government agencies were already on standby in the threatened areas.
Food supplies and medicines have also been dispatched to the northern Philippines.
