Typhoon prompts evacuations from China coast
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from China’s south-east coast ahead of the expected arrival of Typhoon Haitang.
Haitang was expected to plough into Fujian province by noon tomorrow with high winds and heavy rains, said a provincial weather bureau spokeswoman.
“The impact on our province will be pretty big,” said the spokeswoman, who identified herself only as Miss Gao. “So far, there haven’t been any casualties.”
Gao said heavy rain was already falling in the provincial capital, Fuzhou, and nearby coastal city of Putian, about 500 miles south-west of China’s commercial hub, Shanghai.
Occasional heavy winds swept through Shanghai, but the city’s skies were clear.
State broadcaster China Central Television said tens of thousands of people had been moved to temporary shelters, and that about 10,000 fishing boats were harbouring in Fujian to ride out the storm.
Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post newspaper showed pictures of soldiers practising flood rescue exercises.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the central government’s State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters had ordered local governments to evacuate people from vulnerable areas and to take “effective measures to safeguard the people’s life and property.”
Haitang, named after a Chinese flower, hammered northern Taiwan today, reportedly killing at least one person.
The word typhoon is derived from a Chinese word for “mighty wind,” and the storms frequently pound China’s south-eastern coast from midsummer to late autumn.
Last year Typhoon Rananim – China’s most powerful storm in seven years - flooded coastal areas and triggered massive landslides that killed at least 147 people.
China’s worst storm in recent years, Typhoon Winnie, killed 236 people in 1997.
