Typhoon Krosa batters Taiwan, moves toward China; 4 dead

From the Associated Press
03:28 AM PDT, October 07, 2007

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TAIPEI, Taiwan, 1:37 AM PDT -- A typhoon lashed Taiwan Saturday with intense winds and rains, killing four people and cutting power to thousands of homes. But the storm weakened as it moved Sunday toward mainland China, where authorities ordered more than 1 million people to safer ground.

Two people were still missing in Taiwan, the Disaster Relief Center said.

Typhoon Krosa was forecast to strike China's southern Zhejiang and northern Fujian provinces late Sunday, China's national flood control office said in a notice on its Web site.

On Sunday morning, the typhoon was centered at sea about 80 miles northwest of Keelung on the northern tip of Taiwan. It weakened to a tropical storm with sustained winds of 66 mph, down from 114 mph, the Central Weather Bureau said.

Two men were killed in a Taipei suburb Saturday when their house was buried by a landslide, the Disaster Relief Center said. Another man died after falling from his balcony during the storm in northern Hsinchu, and a woman was electrocuted after falling from her motorcycle in Tainan.

Two men were missing, including one who was buried in debris after a hostel was hit by a landslide in Hsinchu.

At its peak, Krosa caused a massive power cut blacking out some 2 million homes in Taiwan. But electricity has since been restored.

Cathay Pacific Airways canceled flights from Taipei to Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Dragon Airlines also canceled flights between Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The Central Weather Bureau said Krosa could continue to dump heavy rains across Taiwan on Sunday as it moved toward eastern China.

On mainland China, more than 1 million people from low-lying coastal areas, including more than 500,000 tourists who were at beach resorts for the National Day holiday week, were evacuated, the Chinese government's Xinhua News Agency reported.

Early Sunday, China's coast guard rescued 27 sailors from a Hong Kong freighter that suffered mechanical failure after it was hit by Krosa off the southeastern port of Wenzhou in Zhejiang, Xinhua reported.

In Shanghai, where the Special Olympics is taking place, the city government canceled vacations for flood-control workers and was drafting plans to drain competition sites.

In Vietnam, the death toll from Typhoon Lekima -- which hit the country's central coast late Wednesday -- rose to 46, with another 29 people missing, officials said Sunday.

Lekima, named after a local fruit, also damaged about 77,000 homes, the government said.