Authorities in eastern China evacuated almost a million people from two coastal provinces Sunday, as the country braced itself for Typhoon Morakot, which is expected to make landfall soon.
The storm is expected to make landfall later in the afternoon or evening in southeastern Fujian province or Zhejiang province, China’s Xinhua news agency said. As a precaution, authorities evacuated more than 953,000 people, the news agency said. Officials also called 35,440 ships back to port and closed several highways. In Fujian province, about 8.4 million text messages had been sent to citizens warning them to prepare for the typhoon, Xinhua reported. The typhoon is expected to weaken to a tropical storm before hitting the Chinese mainland, according to Xinhua. The storm killed 10 people and injured 18 others in the Philippines, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Coordinating Council told CNN.
In Taiwan the storm killed two people, injured 15 and cut off power to about 650,000 households, according to Hong Kong’s Metro Radio. Watch how severe the flooding was ยป Trading at the Taiwan Stock Exchange was postponed until Monday, the news agency reported.
