CHINA:The deadly typhoon Krosa hit China's eastern coast hard yesterday with heavy rain and high winds forcing 1.4 million people to evacuate their homes, after killing five in the neighbouring island of Taiwan, writes Clifford Coonanin China.
Krosa, which takes its name from the Khmer word for crane, is the 16th typhoon this year and it caused havoc throughout east and southeast Asia.
The typhoon made landfall near the borders of the two heavily-populated provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian in southeast China, lashing the seaboard with winds of up to 126km/h, before weakening to a tropical storm.
Some 75,000 ships were recalled to harbour, and schools, airports and motorways across the region were closed. Rainfall was three metres in some areas.
According to a government statement, the typhoon, which formed on October 2nd and escalated to a powerful typhoon on October 5th, had a "strange route" and widespread impact, hitting China near the borders of Zhejiang's Cangnan county and Fujian's Fuding city.
Premier Wen Jiabao issued a public statement ordering relevant government departments to strengthen safety inspections and put public safety "first and foremost" when facing Typhoon Krosa.
No casualties were reported in China and local flood prevention authorities later downgraded the typhoon to a common tropical storm as it lost strength moving north at 20km/h, according to the Xinhua news agency.
In Fujian province, vice-premier Hui Liangyu asked locals to "stand by their posts". "Local departments should continue to evacuate people in danger and order organised boats back to the harbour to shelter from the wind," he told an emergency meeting.
In Hong Kong, tug boats were struggling in strong winds to rescue a Hong Kong-registered cargo ship, Aladdin Dream, with 27 crew on board, that was caught in the storm about 30km off the coast when its engines failed.
The ship is reported to be in no danger of sinking.
The seaside in Zhejiang province was filled with holidaymakers visiting for the week-long Golden Week holiday to mark National Day and 962,000 people were evacuated in that province, half a million of them holidaymakers.
More than 200 sightseeing boats, which usually carry at least 100,000 tourists a day during the holidays, also stayed in port.
A rehearsal for the closing ceremony for the Special Olympics in Shanghai was postponed until October 9th from tomorrow in anticipation of storm damage.