Kousalya Menon

Typhoon Haikui hit eastern China on 8.8.2012, flooding roads, knocking out power and disrupting transport in one of the nation’s most populous regions. It is the 11th Tycoon of the year for China.

The storm came ashore in Zhejiang province bringing heavy rains and winds of up to 150km per hour.

More than 1.5 million people in the eastern province of Zhejiang and 252,000 residents of outlying parts of Shanghai were evacuated ahead of the storm. Shanghai issued a red alert for the typhoon, the highest alert in the country’s four-tier color-coded weather warning system.

Haikui is the third typhoon to hit China’s eastern coast in the same week after storms Saola and Damrey hit the region, causing flooding and landslides.

The rains have also caused 12 townships to lose power, according to the provincial power company. Railway authorities have canceled all passenger trains departing from and arriving at the cities of Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang. The Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport closed due to strong winds, airport staff said.

Beth Tiu, a humanitarian relief director for World Vision in Manila, tells VOA the situation is worse than in 2009, when Typhoon Ketsana left hundreds dead and $1 billion in damage. World Vision is appealing for $800,000 in funds for humanitarian supplies for some of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the floods.

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