Shanghai maritime authorities have ordered hundreds of ships to anchor at the mouth of Yangtze River as Typhoon Krosa has brought strong wind and huge waves into local waters. The wind was so strong that it moved 25 ships from their anchored locations.

At about 5am yesterday, two fishing boats from neighboring Zhejiang Province were grounded in the city's waters. Eleven among the total 22 crew members were saved by ships in the vicinity, while others fled by taking a helicopter sent by the local maritime authority.

To handle the bad weather, Shanghai also dispatched 15 tugboats to several key positions, such as Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone and Changxing Island, with dozens of patrol boats around.

With navigational help from the Wusong Division of local maritime administration, a Japan cruiser carrying 765 passengers safely sailed to Japan at 3pm yesterday.

Krosa weakened to a tropical storm after coming ashore on the eastern coast yesterday afternoon but more than 1.41 million people from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces were evacuated with no casualties reported.

About 75,000 vessels were recalled to harbor to avoid Krosa's devastation. It landed at 3:30pm near the border of Zhejiang's Cangnan County and Fujian's Fuding City.

Krosa unleashed gales and torrential rain, swelling rivers, destroying houses, cutting power and halting traffic and aircraft.

It also killed five people in Taiwan as it cut power to two million homes and drenched the island, according to Taiwan's Disaster Relief Center.

(Shanghai Daily October 8, 2007)