The death toll climbed to eight after Typhoon Chanchu hit southern China’s Guangdong province early on Thursday, while more than 900 000 people were evacuated, an official and state media said.
The eight victims, including two children, were killed when their houses collapsed in Guangdong’s Shantou city following a landslide caused by torrential rain, an official at the local flood-control centre said.
A total of 905 000 people have been evacuated, including 327 000 in Guangdong province and 578 000 in neighbouring Fujian province where the typhoon was heading, the Xinhua news agency said.
The 6 400 people stranded earlier on Thursday by flooding in Shantou were rescued, another official from the Shantou flood-control office said.
Chanchu, which means ”pearl”, struck the coastal areas between Shantou in Guangdong province and Zhangzhou city, further north in Fujian province, at 2.15am local time on Thursday, the China meteorological station said.
The typhoon, which killed 41 people and left thousands homeless when it tore through the Philippines last week, is the strongest on record to have entered the South China Sea in May, the Hong Kong Observatory said.
It brought gale-force winds and rainstorms to Shantou and Chaozhou cities in Guangdong as well as other areas on the southern and eastern coasts of China.
The typhoon flooded almost all roads in Shantou, the city hardest hit by the storm, and caused several blackouts. After daybreak Thursday, however, the sky was clear in Shantou, Xinhua said. Air, sea and land traffic returned to normal.
Schools cancelled classes for Thursday morning, but all except kindergartens were expected to reopen in the afternoon.
As the storm approached, more than 58 000 fishing boats and other vessels in Guangdong were recalled to their home ports, while another 42 000 in Fujian were ordered to seek shelter in harbour.
More than 70 flights were cancelled in the coastal cities of Guangzhou, Xiamen and Shanghai, leaving more than 1 000 passengers stranded, the China Daily said.
After hitting southern China, the typhoon continued to move northward along the coastal areas of Fujian province at 25kph. It was expected to head towards China’s major eastern coastal cities, including Wenzhou city in Zhejiang province and the Shanghai metropolis.
While predicted to bring rain all along the coast, it was expected to gradually lose its strength later on Thursday and not wreak havoc in the major cities to the north.
Chanchu formed in the Pacific, about 550km east of Mindanao island in the Philippines, on May 9. The storm was initially expected to hit Hong Kong, but changed course over the South China Sea and brushed past the territory. — AFP
