Saomai, Strongest Typhoon In 50 Years, Makes Chinese Landfall - NYT

[hatrack]

LUOYUAN, China (Reuters) - Super Typhoon Saomai, the strongest to threaten China in over 50 years, slammed into the southeast coast on Thursday killing at least two people, injuring over 80 and forcing more than 1.5 million from their homes. Saomai, one of three storms to hit East Asia in the past few days, made landfall in Zhejiang province at 0925 GMT, hitting Cangnan county just after officials there declared a state of emergency, Xinhua news agency said.

It has battered down over 1,000 houses, plunged almost all the county into darkness and knocked out nearly half of local communication links. Over 80 people are injured, the report said, quoting local sources. Neighboring Fujian province, also affected, has reported two deaths in the city of Fuding and 12 people missing at sea after two Taiwanese boats capsized at sea near the city's harbor and a Fujianese fishing boat hit a reef, Xinhua said.

Storm tracker Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com) had graded Saomai a category five ''super'' typhoon -- its highest category -- but reduced that to category 4 once it came ashore. It landed with a wind velocity of 216 km (135 mph) per hour, and was more powerful than a typhoon that hit Zhejiang in August 1956 and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 3,000, Xinhua said.

Saomai had not caused a similar surge, but doused Cangnan with 30 mm (12 inches) of rain in an hour, inundating rice fields, and would move further inland at about 20 km per hour (12 mph).

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-weather-china.html

[bananas]

1. LBN: China Hit by Strongest Storm in Decades

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2448912

[phantom power]

2. I have a feeling this is worse that the initial reports suggest.

A cat-4 landfall is like the hammer of God.