Powerful Typhoon Krosa weakened to a tropical storm after making
landfall in east China on Sunday afternoon, which had forced the
evacuation of more than one million people in provinces Zhejiang
and Fujian.
It was downgraded to a tropical storm at 5 PM, when it was
located at 27.3 degrees north latitude and 120.3 degrees east
longitude, packing winds of about 108 km per hour at its eye, the
Zhejiang Provincial Flood Prevention and Drought Relief
Headquarters said.
It was moving northwestward at a speed of 20 km per hour, the
headquarters said.
Typhoon Krosa, the 16th this year, landed at 3:30 PM on Sunday
near the borders of Zhejiang's Cangnan County and Fujian's Fuding
City.
Krosa unleashed gale force winds and torrential rains in
Zhejiang's Wenzhou City, making rivers swollen, pulling down
houses, cutting off power supplies, halting highway traffic and air
services.
It was also forecast to even trigger landslides in some areas of
the Fujian.
No casualties have been reported.
More than one million people have been evacuated in the two
provinces -- 837,000 for Zhejiang and 230,000 for Fujian, while
schools, airports, expressways and shipping services in some areas
have been shut down. Meanwhile, vessels have been recalled to
harbor.
The tourism authorities in Zhejiang have closed almost all
scenic spots along the coast, and evacuated more than 500,000
holiday-makers who had flocked to the seaside resorts for the
week-long National Day holiday ending on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, rescuers were battling against strong winds and
billows to tow a Hong Kong-registered cargo ship to harbor, which
suffered mechanical failure after having been hit by Krosa off the
coast of Zhejiang's Wenzhou City.
Twenty-seven crew members were aboard the ship, Aladdin
Dream, including sailors from Russia, India and the
Philippines, rescuers said.
Krosa has left four dead, two missing and 52 injured in Taiwan,
in addition to cutting off power supplies and halting highway and
air traffic, according to Taiwan media reports.
(Xinhua News Agency October 7, 2007)
