Wipha leaves two dead in Zhejiang

"The impact is less serious than we expected."

Zhu Jiadong, Shanghai Meteorology Bureau

Tropical Storm Wipha lost much of its punch as it roared ashore over densely populated eastern China yesterday, but still raked the region with heavy rains and high winds.

The former typhoon, billed by state media as potentially the worst to strike in a decade, had sparked the evacuation of around 2 million people, but weakened rapidly after making landfall in the early hours yesterday.

It was later downgraded to a tropical storm, but state forecasters said it would continue dumping torrential rains along China's already soaked eastern seaboard today.

Wipha made landfall in Zhejiang Province south of Shanghai with winds up to 160km an hour, flooding roadways and paralyzing air transportation.

DEATHS REPORTED

However, despite fears of a major disaster, two people have been reported dead so far, according to state media reports.

Wipha was expected to churn northward yesterday and today, avoiding a feared direct hit on Shanghai, before veering back out over the sea near Shandong Province, Xinhua news agency said, quoting state weather forecasters.

China's national meteorological agency said the eastern provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangsu and the Shanghai region would experience heavy rainfalls for the next two days.

Authorities in Shanghai had expected the city would be ravaged by the storm but meteorological officials on yesterday backed off of earlier dire warnings.

"The impact is less serious than we expected," said Zhu Jiadong, a meteorologist with the Shanghai Meteorology Bureau.

Authorities in the metropolis of 17 million had closed schools and said trading on the city's stock exchange could have been halted if the weather worsened.

They ordered the evacuation of 291,000 people from low-lying areas and called ships and ferries back to port, according to the Shanghai Daily.

Similar measures had been taken along the eastern seaboard, media reports said, with at least 1.5 million people evacuated from their homes in Zhejiang Province alone.

Xinhua news agency called the evacuations the largest in the province since the communist victory in 1949.

The center of the storm was expected to pass about 100km to the west of Shanghai, but its presence has already been felt in the city.

Xinhua said that more than 80 streets there were already flooded on Tuesday by the rains of the approaching storm, while approximately 50 flights were delayed and more than 20 canceled at its two airports.

ECONOMIC LOSSES

The city of Wenzhou, near where Wipha made landfall, suffered more than US$184 million in economic losses, China News Service said.

Xinhua said about 700 homes were destroyed in the area.

Wipha also caused the postponement of two matches in the Women's Soccer World Cup, which Shanghai is hosting along with other cities in China.

Expectations of continued heavy rains were a concern as downpours preceding Wipha's landfall have filled some rivers and reservoirs to high-level warning marks, Xinhua said.

Southeast China was plowed by Typhoon Saomai in August last year, leaving 436 people dead.

That typhoon was labeled the strongest storm to hit China in 50 years.