Typhoon Prapiroon hits S.China, thousands evacuated

HONG KONG, Aug 3 (Reuters) Typhoon Prapiroon today drove ashore on Thursday in southern China, where tens of thousands of people had been evacuated, after killing six people and forcing thousands to flee their homes in the northern Philippines.

Prapiroon reached the coast near Yangjiang in western Guangdong province at 1650 hrs IST and is moving inland at 15 to 20 KM an hour, Xinhua news agency said, citing the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Station.

Prapiroon, ''God of rain'' in Thai, is bringing heavy rains to six provinces, the Meteorological Office said on its Web site (www.nmc.gov.cn).

Much of southern China has already been battered by tropical storms Bilis and Kaemi, which killed more than 30 and 600 people respectively last month.

A flood control official in Yangjiang said the city had evacuated more than 52,000 fishermen, workers on marine projects and people whose housing was deemed unsafe. The authorities are closely watching reservoir water levels, the official said.

''The traffic is basically normal except that pedestrians have to struggle, and there are few motorcycles on the streets,'' the official told Reuters by telephone. Guangdong commuters rely heavily on the two-wheeled vehicles.

The autonomous region of Guangxi, just west of Guangdong, is also on high alert as Prapiroon will be the first typhoon to hit the area directly since 2003, Xinhua said. Its capital, Nanning, was buffeted by thunderstorms and gales late yesterday.

Hainan provincial flood control office said the rain and wind were not as strong today because Prapiroon skirted the island province rather than making landfall as previously expected.

While southern China braced for the typhoon, a heatwave was affecting the northwestern region of Xinjiang, areas along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing and neighbouring Sichuan province.

Temperatures in parts of Xinjiang are expected to be over 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) tomorrow, while Chongqing and Sichuan can expect temperatures of over 38 Celsius.

Hong Kong was not directly hit by Prapiroon, but strong winds have delayed 159 flights, while 92 were cancelled and 70 redirected to other places, according to its Airport Authority.

Some 3,000 passengers have been stuck at the airport, and a further 300 flights were likely to be disrupted until midnight.

Sandy Song, a senior scientific officer with the Hong Kong Observatory, said particularly strong winds near the airport were to blame.

''The typhoon is actually closer to Chek Lap Kok (Hong Kong airport) than other areas so we can see a difference in wind speed across the territory,'' said Song.

Strong winds forced the closure of some bus routes on Thursday, after at least four people were injured by flying debris yesterday.

REUTERS RS2328