An erratic typhoon threatening the northern Philippines weakened Friday and shifted away from the country, the weather bureau said, according to dpa. The bureau downgraded Typhoon Lupit to a tropical storm after its maximum sustained winds decreased to 105 kilometres per hour as its gusts dropped to up to 135 kph. Prisco Nilo, head of the weather bureau, said Lupit also shifted its track northward toward Taiwan. "The expected landfall in Cagayan province would no longer happen unless there is another change in its track," he said. Nilo warned that Lupit would still bring strong winds and rains over extreme northern provinces as its hovers over the Philippines" coast. "We cannot say that the northern Philippines has been spared because things can still change," he said. "Lupit could still trigger landslides as lands are still saturated from the previous storms." The Philippines has been struggling to recover from two back-to-back storms that killed 929 people and caused more than 652 million dollar"s worth of damage to agriculture and infrastructure. The Philippines has been on alert since Monday for Lupit as it barrelled toward the country"s northern region with winds of up to 195 kph and gusts of up to 230 kph. Thousands of people have fled their homes amid warnings of possible floods and landslides. In Cagayan province, a 20-metre seawall collapsed after being battered by huge waves. More than 37,000 disaster relief response and rescue personnel as well as equipment were positioned in the threatened provinces since the start of the week. Tons of food supplies, medicines, blankets and other relief goods were also sent to the northern Philippines. --SPA
