. Earth Science News .
Coastal evacuations in China as typhoon nears
BEIJING, July 28 (AFP) Jul 28, 2008
At least 500,000 people have been evacuated or returned to port in eastern and southern China as Typhoon Fung-wong bore down on the coast, state media reported on Monday.

Xinhua news agency said the typhoon was expected to make landfall on the coast of China's Fujian province in the early hours of Tuesday after it left one dead and six injured in Taiwan.

Authorities in Fujian had already ordered the return to shore of more than 270,000 people to their fishing communities in advance of the storm, Xinhua said.

In neighbouring Zhejiang, 230,000 people had been evacuated and more than 26,000 boats had returned to shore, it said.

With its strong winds and heavy rains, Fung-wong forced the closure of schools and offices across Taiwan, after earlier wreaking havoc in the Philippines.

It severely disrupted Taiwan's travel system, caused the stock market to close and saw thousands of homes have their power cut.

A 68-year-old man died in southeastern Taitung county when the gale-force winds blew him off the roof of his home, which he had been trying to repair during the storm, Taiwan's National Fire Agency said.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.