A weakening Typhoon Lupit can be seen swirling well to the east of the Philippines on Monday.
Thousands of people in the northern Philippines who were evacuated in anticipation of the arrival of Typhoon Lupit were able to return home on Saturday as the storm weakened well offshore and turned toward Japan.
Parts of Luzon Island had already been devastated by floods and mudslides unleashed by two successive storms over the previous three weeks.
Nearly a thousand people had perished during Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma, and officials conducted the recent evacuations under a policy of “zero tolerance” for any additional fatalities.
Lupit suddenly stalled about a hundred miles to the northeast of Luzon, then started taking aim on Japan’s southernmost islands.
But it later jogged to the east and weakened over cooler waters, missing all significant land areas.
Lupit means cruel or tough in the Tagalog language of the Philippines.
Typhoon Lupit Track
Satellite Loop Data: CIMSS