Typhoon Prapiroon on Thursday evening slammed into south China's
Guangdong Province, packing heavy rain and
strong wind, the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Station
said.
The typhoon made landfall at the coastal area between Yangxi
County and Dianbai County in western Guangdong at 7:20 p.m.
Thursday. With a speed of 33 meters per second, the wind power
reached 12 degrees on the Beaufort Scale near its eye.
The typhoon will move toward inland area of Guangdong within 12
hours at a speed of 15 to 20 kilometers per hour.
It will enter Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, just west of
Guangdong, on Friday, the meteorological station forecasted.
The strong wind and heavy rain will continue to ravage the west
region of Guangdong until Saturday.
Local flood-control authority called for close watch on the
typhoon and asked related departments to carry out emergency
measures to prevent possible disasters triggered by Prapiroon,
including landslide, mud-flow, house collapse and flooding.
Before Prapiroon's landing, 406,343 people have been moved to
safety in the provinces of Hainan and Guangdong and the Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Meanwhile, 62,023 vessels from Guangdong, Hainan and Guangxi had
returned to harbor.
But by press time, 56 out of the 68 sailors on board a barge
have been rescued, but the other 12 are still on board the barge at
sea near Yangjiang City of Guangdong due to failure of rescue
effort as Prapiroon has brought force 9-12 gales to the sea
areas.
(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2006)