'Ramil' weakens into tropical storm

'Ramil' weakens into tropical storm

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abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/23/2009 6:17 PM

MANILA - Typhoon "Ramil" (international codename Lupit) - which means cruel in Filipino - has weakened into a tropical storm while continuing to remain over the northern tip of Cagayan province, state weather bureau PAGASA said Friday.

As of 4 p.m, the center of the storm was located 110 kilometers east northeast of Aparri, Cagayan. Packing 105 kph winds near the center and gusts of up to 135 kph, the storm is expected to bring rough weather in the extreme part of Northern Luzon while shifting in direction to the north or northwest.
"There are no more high pressure areas affecting the storm. When that happens, the storm will drift northward. For the next 12 hours, it will remain almost stationary," PAGASA Administrator Prisco Nilo said in a press briefing.
He added, however, that the storm remains dangerous because of its winds and rain.
PAGASA Weather Branch chief Nathaniel Cruz said as of 2 p.m., gusts of up to 100 kph were recorded in Baler while 40-60 kph winds were recorded in Laoag CIty, Aparri, Itbayat and Basco, Batanes.
Storm Warning Signal No. 3 remains hoisted over Northern Cagayan, Babuyan, Calayan Islands and Batanes Group of Islands while Storm Signal No. 2 is hoisted over the rest of Cagayan,
Ilocos Norte and Apayao.
Storm Signal No. 1 remains in effect over Ilocos Sur, Abra, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Isabela, Ifugao, Quirino and Northern Aurora.
PAGASA said only the Ambuklao and Binga Dams in Northern Luzon have several floodgates open as of 4 p.m. Friday.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who is in charge of disaster preparedness, earlier said the government was continuing to monitor the storm for any change in its movement."We really plan for the worst case scenario," he said in a radio interview.
People in coastal fishing towns and other vulnerable areas had already been evacuated from their homes, while relief and rescue supplies had been stocked in the north in the event Lupit hits.
Ramil's imminent arrival comes after tropical storms Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) caused massive destruction across the northern Philippines from September 26.
Over 900 people were killed by Ketsana and Parma due to flooding and landslides, while over 186,000 people are still in evacuation centers weeks after the storms left the country, the civil defense office says.
At least 148 other people have died from ensuring water-borne disease outbreaks in the nation's capital, Manila, some of which remains flooded. With Agence France-Presse
  
as of 10/23/2009 6:17 PM