Typhoon Wipha, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm, is moving northwards after crashing into east China's coast, unleashing heavy rains and forcing thousands to be evacuated, Xinhua reported. It entered the inland province of Anhui at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday and is moving northwest at a speed of 20 km per hour, after causing 14 hours of havoc in Zhejiang where it made landfall, according to Pan Jinsong, vice director of the Zhejiang Meteorological Station. The wind speed at its eye has reduced to 72 km per hour from 83km per hour eight hours ago, Pan said. Typhoon Wipha hit Wenzhou, in Zhejiang Province, at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday but was downgraded to a tropical storm at 11:00 a.m. It has brought heavy downpours to Jiangsu, with rainfall in some cities reaching more than 150 millimeters. More than 39,000 people in the province have been relocated from coastal and low-lying areas, and 12,000 vessels have been recalled to harbor. Schools were closed on Wednesday in Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Yancheng. Wipha has killed at least one person and paralyzed traffic along the east coast of China since its landfall. Latest statistics from the local flood control authorities show the typhoon has affected more than 6.5 million people in Fujian and Zhejiang, wrecking thousands of homes and inflicting economic losses of more than 4.8 billion yuan (638 million U.S. dollars). The figures are expected to rise.
