China has evacuated more than 1.41 million people from eastern
provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang with no casualty reported after
the powerful Typhoon Krosa landed the eastern coastal area on
Sunday afternoon.
In addition, around 75,000 vessels were recalled to harbor to
avoid attack of Typhoon Krosa, the 16th this year, which landed at
3:30?PM on Sunday near the borders of Zhejiang's Cangnan
County and Fujian's Fuding City and had weakened to a tropical
storm at 5 PM.
Fujian has allocated relief fund of 3.5 million yuan and it has
also prepared 22,000 tents, 20,000 quilts, 150 tons of rice and
50,000 boxes of bottle water for people affected, according to the
provincial civil affairs department.
Krosa was located at Fuding City of Fujian Province at 8 PM,
packing winds of about 100 km per hour at its eye, the Zhejiang
Provincial Flood Prevention and Drought Relief Headquarters
said.
It was moving northward at a speed of 20 km per hour to sweeping
through Zhejiang Province before it reaching to the East China Sea,
the headquarters said, adding 1.12 million people had been
evacuated by 9?PM on Sunday.
Krosa unleashed gale force winds and torrential rains along the
way it running through, making rivers swollen, pulling down houses,
cutting off power supplies, halting highway traffic and air
services.
In addition, schools, airports, expressways and shipping
services in some areas have been shut down.
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.
However, residents in the tropical storm-hit area remain calm as
the countermeasures taken by local governments have so far been
proved to be effective.
At the Shacheng Town of Fujian Province, the most stricken place
in the Super Typhoon Saomai, which claimed 483 lives in Chinese
mainland last August, a hotel owner Mr. Yang said he was not so
scared this time.
"We received warnings from government of typhoon five days ago
and were required to stay at home," said Yang. "Officials came to
see if we had been prepared almost twice a day."
Yang also seems not to worry about his fishery nearby, which he
has invested more than 600,000 yuan to build up.
"The typhoon is not that strong as Saomai," he said. "What's
more. I had the dam reinforced before Krosa came."
However, the governments of Fujian and Zhejiang have been warned
of more strong rainstorms and landslides in the coming days.
The two provinces were stricken by torrential rains since
Saturday and it was also forecast that the rain will last to
Monday.
Fujian and Zhejiang have strengthened monitoring on the areas
from landslide-prone areas and examining reservoir dams. Some
reservoirs have began to discharge water on Sunday morning.
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 8, 2007)