Typhoon Slams Chinese City

A typhoon hit a sprawling city in eastern China on Sunday, reportedly killing seven people and prompting the evacuation of nearly 1 million villagers and farmers from flimsy coastal and hillside huts.

Typhoon Khanun made landfall in China’s mountainous Zhejiang province, where storms regularly trigger fatal floods and landslides.

The new city of Taizhou, with a population surpassing 5 million, took the full brunt, a city government official said, adding that those the army evacuated had been taken to schools, railway stations, hotels and other solid buildings for protection.

A flood-control official in Taizhou said seven people died. “The rain has stopped, and we can see trees on the street blown down, and some areas of the city are still flooded and many houses collapsed,” he said today.

State television showed pictures of waves crashing ashore, flooded city streets, trees bent over and rescuers carrying the elderly to safety on their backs.

At least 814,000 people were moved to safety in Zhejiang province, including 330,000 in Taizhou.

In Shanghai, north of Taizhou, the city government issued a text message to mobile telephones late Sunday warning residents not to go outside as high winds and rain swept the city of more than 16 million people. The government also evacuated more than 160,000 people from fragile housing in the city.