SHANGHAI,
China - A typhoon slammed into southern China on Thursday, packing heavy
rain and 75 mph winds as authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people
from their homes.
Typhoon
Prapiroon, which killed six people earlier in the Philippines, made
landfall at 7:20 p.m. over a large swath of coastal Guangdong province,
including the cities of Yangjiang and Dianbai, according to the state
meteorological bureau.
No reports
from the area assessing the damage were immediately available.
In
preparation, authorities evacuated 65,000 people from parts of Guangdong
and the neighboring island province of Hainan, and ferry and railway
services were suspended.
More than
50,000 boats also were ordered to return to port in Guangdong, Guangxi and
Hainan provinces, official media said. Rescue teams throughout the area
were alert for floods and landslides.
Strong
winds and heavy rains were forecast through Saturday for large parts of
Guangdong and Hainan, China’s southernmost island and a popular tourist
destination. The storm was moving northwest at 9 mph to 12 mph, the
meteorological bureau said.
It came on
the heels of Typhoon Kaemi, which killed at least 35 people and left
dozens missing in southern China last week, and Tropical Storm Bilis,
which sparked floods and landslides that killed more than 600 people in
the region last month.
Prapiroon
is “as strong, if not stronger” than Bilis, said Gao Shuanzhu, a senior
official at the China’s national observatory, according to the official
Xinhua News Agency.
In Hong
Kong, hundreds of airline flights were delayed, canceled or redirected,
stranding more than 3,000 passengers. At least one person was injured
Wednesday when empty shipping containers were toppled by high winds at a
container terminal in the city.
A cargo
vessel and barge also ran aground on islands off the territory’s coast,
said Jack Chak, a spokesman for the Government Flying Service. Dozens of
crew members were rescued, but there were no reports of injuries or
deaths.
Prapiroon,
named after the Thai rain god, is the region’s eighth major storm of the
season.
More than
1,460 people have been killed during this year’s typhoon season, which
started unusually early. Chinese officials estimate more than 1 million
houses have been damaged and millions of acres of farmland and forests
destroyed.
The
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has
issued an appeal for $4.8 million to provide food, tents and quilts for
240,000 people left homeless by floods caused by typhoons.
