Posted on 07/20/2005 1:30:40 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Beijing, July. 20 (PTI): At least one person died and over 40 lakhs were affected along China's southeast coast as Typhoon Haitang slammed into the mainland, leaving a trail of destruction.
High-velocity winds and heavy rains lashed the coastal Chinese town of Huangqi in Fujian Province last evening. Winds upto 126-kilometres-per-hour were reported in Lianjiang in Fujian, state media reported today
But the system weakened as the typhoon moved inland towards the northwest, and has been downgraded to a tropical storm late yesterday.
Meanwhile, torrential rains brought about by the typhoon has wreaked havoc in Wenzhou, a booming city of east China's Zhejiang Province, leaving one person dead and causing heavy economic losses.
According to the city flood control and drought relief headquarters, more than 3.47 million people had been affected by the typhoon-inflicted heavy rains in Wenzhou this morning.
Torrential rains also flattened 2,612 houses, damaged over 30,000 acres of crops, killed 32,200 domestic animals and caused a loss of 75,3000 tonnes of aquatic products to the city.
By last night, typhoon Haitang had caused damage to the tune of 2.16 billion yuan (USD261 million), officials said.
The heaviest rainfall of 654 mm was recorded in Cangnan County of the city.
Heavy rains lashed much of the coastal province. Television reports showed villages awash with floodwaters that turned streets into rivers as well as soldiers delivering essentials to people huddled in temporary shelters.
The Fujian provincial meteorological bureau has warned of landslips and mud-rock flows in areas between Fujian and Zhejiang, forcing local Governments in Fujian to evacuate more than 100,000 people from dangerous places.
In Zhejiang, 326,000 people have been evacuated and 25,739 ships called back. Wenzhou City alone relocated 152,000 people.
Influenced by typhoon Haitang, heavy rains and strong winds were forecast in neighbouring Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.
Those poor people, my prayers to them.
Taiwan is still getting heavy heavy rain from this typhoon cutting across the island.
  Heavy clouds hang over Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, as Typhoon Haitang churned into southeastern China Tuesday, July 19, 2005, bringing torrential rain and high winds to coastal areas where more than 1 million people had fled their homes.  More here: http://agora.ex.nii.ac.jp/digital-typhoon/
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