Five dead after typhoon strikes eastern China

Five people have been killed and hundreds of thousands evacuated after Typhoon Fitow hit eastern China, destroying houses and farmlands and closing ports and airports.

Cities in southeastern China were submerged in floodwaters on Tuesday, after the powerful storm slammed ashore with high winds and heavy rain and caused disruption to transport services

Torrential rain prompted the Fujian provincial government to initiate the highest emergency response for flood control.

The provincial government said 177,000 people had been moved to safety and nearly 30,000 fishing boats called back.

Packing winds up to 151kph, Fitow hit Fuding city in Fujian province early on Monday before weakening into a tropical storm later in the day, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Flight and train services in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, were also suspended on Monday.

The flood relief agency in Zhejiang, which neighbours Fujian, said 574,000 people had been evacuated by Sunday evening and 35,800 vessels returned to shore.

In Wenzhou city in Zhejiang province, the storm destroyed over 1,700 houses and 46,800 hectares of crop land, the report said. 

Economic losses in the two provinces were estimated at about $2bn, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Named after a flower from Micronesia, Fitow has hit just two weeks after Typhoon Usagi wreaked havoc in the region, leaving at least 25 reported dead in southern China.

It was the 23rd typhoon to hit China this year.

Fitow earlier passed through Japan’s southern Okinawan island chain, forcing flight cancellations and causing power outages.