More than four lakh people were evacuated in China as typhoon Nepartak on Saturday lashed the country’s eastern coast with powerful winds and heavy rains, disrupting air, rail and road traffic and prompting authorities to issue this year’s first red alert.
The first typhoon of the season landed at 1:45 pm (local time) in Fujian province’s Shishi city, packing winds of up to about 100-km per hour.
Officials have evacuated and urgently relocated more than 4,20,000 lakh people from low-lying areas in four cities, including the provincial capital of Fuzhou and ordered 33,200 fishing boats to return to ports.
Forty-three people in a residential area were rescued by firefighters after floodwaters submersed two buildings. Many buildings have collapsed and landslides were reported in rural and mountainous areas.
Five airports were closed, resulting in the cancellation of nearly 400 flights. A total of 341 high-speed trains had to be canceled. Nearly 5,000 buses were off the roads, State-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Air-passenger services and passenger ships to Taiwan across strait have all been suspended.
Over 100 trains have been canceled this weekend and road traffic has been disrupted, the report said.