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Typhoon Muifa weakens as it moves along China's east coast
Source: Xinhua |
August 7, 2011, Sunday
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Online Edition
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TYPHOON Muifa, the ninth typhoon to hit China this year, is weakening as it moves further north along the country's affluent and densely-populated eastern coast, forcing the evacuation of 610,000 residents on its course, authorities said today.
An emergency meeting chaired by Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei, also deputy head of the country's disaster relief agency, was held today in Beijing to arrange prevention measures.
The agency ordered two more provinces -- Jilin and Heilongjiang in the northeast, to beef up disaster relief efforts as the typhoon heads towards them.
Muifa, bringing gusts up to 178 km per hour, is moving at 25 km per hour towards the coast of Shandong Province where it is expected to make landfall this morning, the National Meteorological Center said in a bulletin.
More than 610,000 people were evacuated from dangerous areas in Shanghai and the provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Shandong, the country's disaster relief agency said. More than 62,700 vessels were ordered to dock.
In Shandong, the local weather forecast bureau said the typhoon might further weaken into a tropical storm when it lands, even so authorities continued to order about 20,000 fishing boats to lay anchor in harbors.
Maritime authorities today also requested vessels to either leave or stay clear from those parts of Shandong's coast most likely to be hit hardest by the typhoon.
Also in Shandong, 18 flights departing or arriving at Qingdao airport on the coast were canceled today. Most of the canceled flights were headed for southern cities, such as Shanghai or Hangzhou.
Using ropes, police rescued 53 tourists, who were briefly stranded on an island off the port of Qingdao as surging water submerged the rock bridge linking it to the mainland.
In the port city of Dalian in Liaoning Province, to the north of Qingdao, authorities ended an annual beer festival two days ahead of schedule.
Muifa, originally a powerful typhoon, swirled into the East China Sea on Friday morning. High wave warnings were issued for coastal provinces.
"People were worried it could be another Saomai, a super typhoon in 2006, but it weakened and the level of danger has been reduced," read the weather forecast bulletin.
Typhoon Saomai killed at least 460 people in east China and forced the evacuation of over 1.5 million. Direct economic losses totaled 20 billion yuan, according to official statistics.
Maritime officials in Zhejiang Province on late yesterday reported that 35 fishing boats loaded with 300 people, which were earlier reportedly missing off the coast of Shandong, had been found along Zhejiang's coast.
The boats were tugged to the bay of Zhoushan and all the people on board were safe, the officials said.
In Zhejiang, the rain and strong winds triggered by the typhoon brought down 169 houses, destroyed the harvest of 3,500 tonnes of crops and 121,300 tonnes of aquatic products. Direct economic losses were estimated at 1.87 billion yuan (US$289.9 million), according to the provincial disaster relief agency.
To the province's north, heavy rain also drenched Shanghai. About 190 flights were canceled since yesterday in Shanghai's two airports while two major sea bridges linking the urban area to outlying islands were also closed.
Gusts have blown away billboards and cut power in some areas, local disaster relief officials said. By yesterday afternoon, almost 80 percent of 181 damaged power lines had been restored, Shanghai's power company said.
Meanwhile, the city today lifted the sailing ban on international passenger vessels and cruises as waters calmed.
An emergency meeting chaired by Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei, also deputy head of the country's disaster relief agency, was held today in Beijing to arrange prevention measures.
The agency ordered two more provinces -- Jilin and Heilongjiang in the northeast, to beef up disaster relief efforts as the typhoon heads towards them.
Muifa, bringing gusts up to 178 km per hour, is moving at 25 km per hour towards the coast of Shandong Province where it is expected to make landfall this morning, the National Meteorological Center said in a bulletin.
More than 610,000 people were evacuated from dangerous areas in Shanghai and the provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Shandong, the country's disaster relief agency said. More than 62,700 vessels were ordered to dock.
In Shandong, the local weather forecast bureau said the typhoon might further weaken into a tropical storm when it lands, even so authorities continued to order about 20,000 fishing boats to lay anchor in harbors.
Maritime authorities today also requested vessels to either leave or stay clear from those parts of Shandong's coast most likely to be hit hardest by the typhoon.
Also in Shandong, 18 flights departing or arriving at Qingdao airport on the coast were canceled today. Most of the canceled flights were headed for southern cities, such as Shanghai or Hangzhou.
Using ropes, police rescued 53 tourists, who were briefly stranded on an island off the port of Qingdao as surging water submerged the rock bridge linking it to the mainland.
In the port city of Dalian in Liaoning Province, to the north of Qingdao, authorities ended an annual beer festival two days ahead of schedule.
Muifa, originally a powerful typhoon, swirled into the East China Sea on Friday morning. High wave warnings were issued for coastal provinces.
"People were worried it could be another Saomai, a super typhoon in 2006, but it weakened and the level of danger has been reduced," read the weather forecast bulletin.
Typhoon Saomai killed at least 460 people in east China and forced the evacuation of over 1.5 million. Direct economic losses totaled 20 billion yuan, according to official statistics.
Maritime officials in Zhejiang Province on late yesterday reported that 35 fishing boats loaded with 300 people, which were earlier reportedly missing off the coast of Shandong, had been found along Zhejiang's coast.
The boats were tugged to the bay of Zhoushan and all the people on board were safe, the officials said.
In Zhejiang, the rain and strong winds triggered by the typhoon brought down 169 houses, destroyed the harvest of 3,500 tonnes of crops and 121,300 tonnes of aquatic products. Direct economic losses were estimated at 1.87 billion yuan (US$289.9 million), according to the provincial disaster relief agency.
To the province's north, heavy rain also drenched Shanghai. About 190 flights were canceled since yesterday in Shanghai's two airports while two major sea bridges linking the urban area to outlying islands were also closed.
Gusts have blown away billboards and cut power in some areas, local disaster relief officials said. By yesterday afternoon, almost 80 percent of 181 damaged power lines had been restored, Shanghai's power company said.
Meanwhile, the city today lifted the sailing ban on international passenger vessels and cruises as waters calmed.
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