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On receiving the typhoon alarm, troops from the People's Liberation Army and Armed Police Forces garrisoned in eastern China's Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces were called into action.
Wipha hit Cangnan County in Zhejiang Province at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, destroying 669 houses, disrupting power supplies to 1,867 villages, affecting about five million people and resulting in direct economic losses of 2.9 billion yuan (38 million U.S. dollars).
The troops oversaw the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people.
Wipha weakened to tropical storm at about 11 a.m., with wind speeds at its eye measuring 83 kilometers per hour, and moved northwestward, approaching the commercial hub of Shanghai.
Typhoon Wipha, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm, is moving northwards after crashing into east China's coast and claiming five lives in Zhejiang Province.
The number of fatalities in east China resulting from the impact of typhoon Wipha has risen to five, and three others are missing, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Wednesday evening. SOURCE: Government of China
Posted September 21st, 2007 by Dinka
