Cable workers make an urgent repair on transmission lines damaged by heavy rain and strong wind brought by Typhoon Haikui on a provincial highway of Songmen Twonship in Wenling City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 8, 2012.
A man rides an electric motor in the torrential rain in Hanshan County, Maanshan City,east China's Anhui Province, Aug. 8, 2012. Anhui Provincial Meteorologic Bureau has issued orange pre-alert signal as typhoon Haikui is excepted to land in the south of
Typhoon Haikui had been downgraded to a severe tropical storm as of 4 p.m. Wednesday in east China's Zhejiang province and will soon enter neighboring Anhui province, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said.
Typhoon Haikui, which made landfall in Zhejiang at 3:20 a.m. Wednesday, has brought heavy downpours to east China and killed three people there.
Shanghai was lashed by a typhoon-triggered rainstorm, with maximum precipitation approaching 130 mm in some areas, the local observatory said.
Two people died and seven were injured by Typhoon-triggered accidents in Shanghai, according to the city's flood control and draught relief headquarters.
Around 7 a.m., a woman died after being hit in the head by a piece of falling glass in Baoshan district. At 11 a.m., the wall of a factory in Songjiang district collapsed and fell onto a neighboring dormitory, killing one and injuring three in the dormitory.
In neighboring Anhui province, the typhoon has left one person dead and forced 26,000 others to be evacuated, local authorities said.
In Zhejiang province, the typhoon has affected more than 4.03 million people and caused economic losses of more than 10 billion yuan (1.57 billion U.S. dollars), the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said, adding that the typhoon has also destroyed 4,452 houses and damaged about 184,800 hectares of cropland.
In Dongling village, Anji county, Zhejiang province, Haikui left 1,638 tourists stranded. All the tourists have been taken to safety, but roads in the village remain blocked and the drinking water facilities there have been destroyed, forcing tourists and the villagers to drink the rainwater.
Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, which was closed at at 7:30 a.m., resumed operations at 6 p.m.
Zhao Fayuan, an official with the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters, said that although Haikui has weakened, it will still bring heavy rains to central and northern Zhejiang.
The downpours will last for a long period, since Haikui is moving at a comparatively slow speed, Zhao said, adding that the province should be prepared for possible mountain torrents, mudslides and urban flooding.
Typhoon-triggered rains started to hit Jiangsu province at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The provincial flood control and draught relief headquarters said that 180,500 people in the province have been relocated and more than 18,567 ships were ordered to return to port before the rain began.
Lukou Airport in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, has canceled 100 flights.
Haikui is the third typhoon to wallop China's eastern coast in a week, after storms Saola and Damrey hit the region over the weekend.
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