Torrential rains brought about by typhoon Haitang struck Wenzhou, a city of east China's Zhejiang Province, over the last two days, 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 by Wednesday morning.

Torrential rains also flattened 2,612 houses, damaged 16,700 hectares of crops, killed 32,200 domestic animals and caused a loss of 753,000 tons of aquatic products to the city.

By zero hour Wednesday, typhoon Haitang had caused an economic loss of 2.16 billion yuan (US$261 million), according to the headquarters.

The heaviest rainfall of 654 mm was recorded in Cangnan County of the city.

Typhoon Haitang landed the southeastern coast of the Chinese mainland Tuesday afternoon after battering Taiwan province and rolling across the Taiwan Straits.

After having lingered 28 hours at the Taiwan Straits, the torrential storm pelted Huangqi Peninsula of neighboring Fujian Province at 7:10 PM Tuesday, according to the Fujian Provincial Flood control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

The entire Fujian Province reported moderate to heavy rains and high winds Monday night and Tuesday. In coastal areas in the central and northern parts of the province, the wind scale was measured from eight to 10. The provincial meteorological bureau has warned of landslides and mud-rock flows in the juncture areas between Fujian and Zhejiang, forcing local governments in Fujian to evacuate more than 100,000 people from dangerous places to safe places.

In Zhejiang, 326,000 people have been evacuated and 25,739 ships called back. Wenzhou City alone relocated 152,000 people in risky places and recalled 7,044 fishing boats.

Influenced by typhoon Haitang, heavy rains and strong winds were forecast in neighboring Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2005)