China evacuates 417,000 people ahead of typhoon

Huge wave hits the dike as Typhoon Fitow moves to make its landfall in Wenling, east China’s Zhejiang province on October 6, 2013. AFP Photo

BEIJING — Hundreds of thousands of people in southeast China were evacuated and fishing vessels called back to shore on Sunday because of an approaching typhoon, authorities said.

Typhoon Fitow is expected to make landfall early Monday between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, according to the National Meteorological Center.

Provincial authorities said that by noon Sunday more than 65,000 boats had returned to port or moved to safer areas. Zhejiang’s provincial government said 289,000 people had been evacuated from fishing boats and coastal areas. Fujian’s government said 128,000 boat workers and dwellers had been evacuated, including 7,000 elderly people and children who were on fishing rafts.

The typhoon will bring heavy or torrential rain to five provinces, Shanghai and Taiwan over the next three days, the meteorological center said. Some coastal areas may see rainfall of 250 millimeters (9.84 inches), it said.

Another typhoon was blowing east of the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes on Sunday with sustained winds of 130 kilometers (81 miles) per hour and gusts of 160 kph (100 mph), but was too far out in the ocean to affect any part of the country. Typhoon Danas may blow toward southern Japan later this week if it does not change direction, according to the Philippine weather agency.

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