In Wenzhou alone, 42 people from nine villages were killed and five were
missing in a landslide caused by Rananim.
In the adjacent Fujian Province, more than 36,000 vessels have returned to
harbor and outdoor activities in all 26,800 schools in the province have been
suspended, as Saomai approaches with Bopha, forecast to be the ninth tropical
storm to hit China this year, close behind.
However, the local observatory said Bopha had weakened to a low pressure at
around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday and would affect Fujian to a lesser degree.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Airport Authority announced that six Hong Kong-Taiwan
flights had been cancelled and 11 delayed by 9:15 a.m. on Thursday, as Saomei
approached Taiwan.
Taiwan meteorological departments said Saomai was about 180 km off Keelung by
8:00 a.m. on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the State Disaster Relief Commission instructed coastal regions
of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi to prepare
for Saomai and Bopha.
Civil affairs bueaux were put on 24-hour alert and provincial-level
authorities were ordered to report damage four hours after the typhoon made
landfall.
Warehouses for disaster-relief goods and materials allocated by the central
government were to be prepared, and railway emergency mechanism was triggered to
ensure safe transport of essential materials.
Zhejiang provincial government has ordered factories, schools and markets to
suspend operations and outdoor activities to be minimized.
People living between the primary and secondary seawalls should be evacuated
to safe areas, and those in unstable homes, sheds and low-lying areas should
move to safer structures.
Rescue teams from power supply, transport, telecommunications and medical
service sectors were put on stand-by. Police were urged to maintain social
security.
The provincial meteorological authorities also warned of possible
typhoon-incurred landslides, collapse, mud-rock flows and mountain
torrents.
