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)