The number of fatalities in east China resulting from the impact
of Typhoon Wipha has risen to six, and three others are
missing.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs said last night that five of the
deaths were caused by landslides triggered by Wipha.
The sixth victim was a man who died in Shanghai on Tuesday night
when he stepped into an electrified puddle.
A total of 2.67 million people in Shanghai and Zhejiang, Fujian
and Jiangsu provinces had been relocated by 6pm yesterday.
The typhoon also destroyed more than 9,600 houses and damaged
42,000 others, and direct economic losses stood at 6.62 billion
yuan (US$881 million), it said.
Wipha, which has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, was
late last night moving northwest at a speed of 20 kilometers per
hour. The wind speed at the eye of the storm dropped to 72kmh.
Wipha is expected to enter Jiangsu Province in the early hours
of this morning and then pass to the Yellow Sea, the China
Meteorological Administration said.
It caused 14 hours of havoc in Zhejiang where it made landfall,
according to Pan Jinsong, vice director of the Zhejiang
Meteorological Station.
The storm brought torrential rain to Jiangsu, with some cities
receiving more than 150 millimeters.
China mobilized more than 20,000 military troops and reservists
to help local people by reinforcing flood barriers along the main
rivers.
At first it was believed that the full force of the storm would
hit Shanghai, but the city escaped relatively unscathed, with about
one million yuan in losses, local flood-control authorities
reported yesterday.
Just three houses collapsed in the city and 128 streets suffered
flooding in the downtown area, affecting more than 8,000
families.
The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau reduced the orange typhoon
alert to yellow at 11:06am yesterday, and the expected strong winds
and heavy rain did not eventuate.
The Shanghai Flood Control Headquarters said the 291,000 people
evacuated from coastal areas started to move back home yesterday
afternoon.
Today the city is expected to receive more rain in the aftermath
of Wipha. The weather bureau also forecast a cold front from the
north and the flood headquarters has warned authorities to remain
on alert.
Primary and secondary schools in Nanhui District and some
schools for migrant children will remain closed today. They will
reopen tomorrow.
(Shanghai Daily September 20, 2007)