SHANGHAI (AFP) — More than 600,000 people were evacuated as tropical storm Fung-wong made landfall on China's southeastern coast, state media reported Tuesday.
The storm was downgraded from typhoon level as it hit Fujian province late Monday after slamming into Taiwan, where it had whipped up strong winds and unleashed heavy rains that left two people dead.
No one was reported hurt in China, but state-run television channel CCTV broadcast images of people knee-deep in water on flooded roads, as heavy rain fell.
The civil affairs ministry ordered officials in eight provinces to launch disaster relief work, preparing emergency shelters and supplies, Xinhua news agency reported.
Shanghai officials closed all ferry stations on Tuesday due to the strong winds, saying they would reopen when conditions improved, Xinhua said.
Fujian authorities evacuated 274,300 people and told 52,300 fishing boats to return to port, the China Daily reported. Dozens of flights were also cancelled at the province's Fuzhou airport.
In neighbouring Zhejiang, more than 338,000 people were evacuated and more than 27,600 fishing boats ordered back to shore, Xinhua said, citing emergency officials.
In the hours before the storm landed, more than 205 millimetres (eight inches) of rain fell Monday in Fuqing city in Fujian province.
Power was cut off in Fujian's Puxia county, where 15 electricity transmission lines and nearly 500 transformer stations were damaged, Xinhua said.
Fung-wong, Cantonese for Phoenix, was moving north. It was expected to reach east China's Jiangxi province late Tuesday and remain there for about three days, Xinhua cited meteorologists as saying.
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