Typhoon Champi strengthens to Category 5 but moves away from land; Trudy weakens

MIAMI (AP) — Typhoon Champi has moved from the western Pacific into the Philippine Sea and has become a Category 5 super typhoon, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.

It had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (258 kph) by late Monday Asia time, and was not near land.

Champi earlier passed close to Guam, and the governors of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands requested emergency disaster declarations Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump approved the emergency declaration for Guam. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said federal assistance was available for the territory to supplement local response efforts.

Airports, harbors and some health facilities in the territories were closed. Relief supplies were unlikely to reach the islands for three to five days, FEMA said Saturday.

Meanwhile, former hurricane Trudy weakened to a tropical storm early Monday after it lashed parts of Mexico’s Pacific coast with rain and winds.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (100 kph) and was moving west at 6 mph (9 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Trudy was moving away from the coast and its center was forecast to pass south of the Baja California Peninsula on Monday and Tuesday.

Some further rainfall was possible in the region where the ground has been saturated by successive storms.

The Associated Press