OMEN
08-10-2006, 12:43 PM
BEIJING: A super typhoon, gathering strength all the time, was heading directly for east China today and was expected to hit within hours after forcing the evacuation of nearly half a million people.
Typhoon Saomai, one of three storms to have threatened East Asia in the past few days, has already dumped heavy rain on Taiwan and was expected to make landfall about midway between Hong Kong and Shanghai, just south of the booming city of Wenzhou.
Storm tracker Tropical Storm Risk graded Saomai a category five "super" typhoon – its highest category – and put the storm's position at 26 degrees Latitude and 123.7 degrees Longitude.
The centre of Saomai, which means morning star in Vietnamese, was 220km southeast of Wenzhou, and was moving northwest at about 25 kph, the city's weather bureau said on its website.
The province of Zhejiang had already evacuated 167,000 people and the neighbouring province of Fujian had evacuated 266,000, Xinhua news agency said, as heavy rain, strong winds and a high tide began to hit the area.
There were no immediate reports of airports closing in the two Chinese provinces, but airlines in Taiwan have cancelled some domestic and international flights even though the island escaped the brunt of the storm.
"Some meteorologists said that the typhoon might grow stronger," Xinhua said. Much of south China has been repeatedly battered by typhoons and tropical storms this year, with hundreds of people killed by rainstorms, mudslides and floods.
Tropical storm Bilis killed more than 600 last month and typhoon Prapiroon killed about 80 last week.
A tropical storm fizzled to the south of Taiwan this week and another veered towards the east of Japan.
Typhoons and tropical storms are common in Taiwan, southeast China and the Philippines during a season that lasts from July to October.
Reuters
Typhoon Saomai, one of three storms to have threatened East Asia in the past few days, has already dumped heavy rain on Taiwan and was expected to make landfall about midway between Hong Kong and Shanghai, just south of the booming city of Wenzhou.
Storm tracker Tropical Storm Risk graded Saomai a category five "super" typhoon – its highest category – and put the storm's position at 26 degrees Latitude and 123.7 degrees Longitude.
The centre of Saomai, which means morning star in Vietnamese, was 220km southeast of Wenzhou, and was moving northwest at about 25 kph, the city's weather bureau said on its website.
The province of Zhejiang had already evacuated 167,000 people and the neighbouring province of Fujian had evacuated 266,000, Xinhua news agency said, as heavy rain, strong winds and a high tide began to hit the area.
There were no immediate reports of airports closing in the two Chinese provinces, but airlines in Taiwan have cancelled some domestic and international flights even though the island escaped the brunt of the storm.
"Some meteorologists said that the typhoon might grow stronger," Xinhua said. Much of south China has been repeatedly battered by typhoons and tropical storms this year, with hundreds of people killed by rainstorms, mudslides and floods.
Tropical storm Bilis killed more than 600 last month and typhoon Prapiroon killed about 80 last week.
A tropical storm fizzled to the south of Taiwan this week and another veered towards the east of Japan.
Typhoons and tropical storms are common in Taiwan, southeast China and the Philippines during a season that lasts from July to October.
Reuters