Red alert as Typhoon Fitow rushes toward east coast
Print Edition
China was on its highest alert for Typhoon Fitow, with hundreds of thousands evacuated as the storm was expected to slam into the east coast this morning.
The National Meteorological Center issued a red alert for the storm, saying it was expected to make landfall early today between eastern Zhejiang Province and southeastern Fujian Province.
The storm, which the center classified as “strong” with winds up to 151 kilometers an hour, was about 215 kilometers southeast of the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang last night and was moving in a mostly westerly direction at 18 kilometers an hour.
The Zhejiang provincial government said that by noon yesterday more than 65,000 boats had returned to port or moved to safer areas. About 289,000 people had been evacuated from fishing boats and coastal areas.
“We must not leave anybody in danger,” said Li Qiang, the provincial governor.
He urged local authorities to increase inspections of dams and reservoirs as well as safety checks of chemical plants and other important facilities.
Fujian’s government said 128,000 boat workers and residents had been evacuated, including 7,000 elderly people and children who were on fishing rafts. Some 30,000 fishing boats in the province were also called back to port.
The typhoon will bring heavy or torrential rain to five provinces, Shanghai and Taiwan over the next three days, the national meteorological center said, with some coastal areas seeing rainfall of 250 millimeters.
Downpours and strong gusts began to sweep coastal areas of Zhejiang yesterday afternoon.
The approaching storm also resulted in bullet train service being suspended in several cities in Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces and services were halted on at least 35 lines that pass cities on the typhoon route, including services between Beijing and Nanjing, Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Xiamen.
Wenzhou Airport, a pivotal airport in Zhejiang, canceled 27 flights yesterday, including those to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Kunming.
Coach services between Shanghai and Wenzhou were also suspended. Maritime authorities in Fujian and Zhejiang closed seaside bathing centers and other entertainment facilities on the coast.
Named after a flower from Micronesia, Fitow comes just two weeks after Typhoon Usagi wreaked havoc in the region and left at least 25 people dead in southern China.
Taiwan’s weather bureau issued a warning over the storm yesterday morning as it was barrelling past the north of the island.
A total of 103 international flights were canceled in Taiwan while 14 flights were delayed. Seventeen ferry services between Taiwan and offshore islands were also terminated.
Some 670 mountain climbers were advised to scrap their plans as the bureau forecast torrential rain in mountainous areas in the north and northeast.
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