Lupit bears down on Luzon

Manila: Religious leaders and government officials called for prayers and extreme preparation as weather forecasters predicted that Typhoon Lupit would hit 15 provinces in northern Luzon Wednesday and Thursday.

The brim of its wide 500-km radius would also bring gusty winds and rampaging rains in Metro Manila.

"Everyone is preparing as if a great war is coming," said Ed Blas, a student.

Lupit, seen 890km northeast of Aparri, Cagayan, in the north on Tuesday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 195km/h near the centre and gustiness of up to 230km/h, will directly hit Batanes Group of Islands, Cagayan, Calayan Island, Babuyan Islands; and secondarily affect Ilocos Norte, Apayao, Abra, Kalinga, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Aurora, and Polillo Island, Prisco Nilo, the head of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said in a radio interview.

"Typhoon Lupit's rains, estimated at 20 to 25 mm per hour, can cause floods and landslides," said Nilo, adding that Lupit's winds of 195km/h near the centre would be stronger than Typhoon Parma's howling winds of 175km/h when it landed in the north and remained there from October 3 to 12, and Typhoon Ketsana's slow winds of 85km/h when it hit Metro Manila and nearby provinces on September 26.

In Metro Manila, giant billboards on major highways must be folded so that their steel railings would not collapse, warned Pagasa weather bureau chief Nathaniel Cruz, adding that Lupit's strength could bring powerful winds down to central Luzon, Metro Manila, and parts of upper southern Luzon.

"A cyclone as strong as Lupit could affect places some 500 to 600km away, explained Cruz.

Meanwhile, Church officials published an "Oratio Imperata" in a full advertisement in a major daily, to help people to pray to ward off Typhoon Lupit, incidentally, a Filipino word for cruel and angry.

The prayer was supposed to be recited after communion, said the advertisement that was posted by the Legazpi Diocese in Albay, southern Luzon, a place that would not be directly affected by Typhoon Lupit, but was badly whip-lashed earlier by Typhoons Ketsana and Parma.

"We ask that we, our loved ones and our hard-earned possessions, be spared from the threat of calamities, natural and man-made," said parts of the prayer, adding that all Filipinos must be spared by the worst effects of climate change.

Evacuation

Since Monday, all local government leaders in northern Luzon began the evacuation of people who have returned to their homes in endangered areas such as riverbanks, mountainsides, and watersheds.

Local leaders in northern Luzon prepared for Typhoon Lupit as if a major disaster was afoot, said a local government official, adding they have all formed brigades to watch over a stockpile of food, medicine, bottled water, energy supply and other relief goods that were sent earlier from Metro Manila.

"No one is complacent among us," said Congressman Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, who was once governor of Ilocos Norte.

Lupit, which originated from the Pacific Ocean, in the country's eastern flank, was expected to move more westward after a landfall and several days of rain-swept presence in upper north, before moving towards the South China Sea, during the weekend.