Typhoon Yutu continues to weaken as it approaches the Philippines and the government raised tropical cyclone warnings levels for nine provinces and put a mountainous region on high alert for possible landslides.
The typhoon which caused havoc last week with a direct hit on the U.S. Northern Mariana Islands, was set to make landfall on Tuesday morning and move across the main island of Luzon before exiting the Philippines 24 hours later, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said.
Yutu was the equivalent to a Category 3 storm, on the U.S. Saffir-Simpson scale, with top winds dropped to about 195 kilometers (121 miles) per hour down from 240 kilometers per hour earlier, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii said late Sunday U.S. time. It was about 420 kilometers from Luzon’s east coast, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The mountains of Luzon will tear at Yutu’s structure and significantly weaken the storm before it emerges into the South China Sea Wednesday, Nicholls said. After that, Yutu is forecast to drift north, possibly bringing rain to China’s southeast coast and parts of Taiwan by Friday.
Known locally as Rosita, the typhoon will be the 18th to hit the Philippines this year and comes six weeks after super typhoon Mangkhut tore across Luzon, triggering landslides that killed dozens of people and damaged about US$180 million of crops.
Sources: Bloomberg.com, channelnewsasia.com