Prapiroon weakens into tropical storm over S.China

BEIJING, Aug 4 (Reuters) Typhoon Prapiroon weakened into a tropical storm over south China today after forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and cutting transport links across the region.

The storm, which made landfall in the coastal province of Guangdong on Thursday, was moving northwest, lashing the area of Baolin, in Guangxi, with heavy winds and rain, China's central Meteorological Office reported.

More than 400,000 people across Guangdong, Guangxi and the island province of Hainan fled their homes ahead of Prapiroon, which earlier killed six people in the Philippines.

Late yesterday, 56 people aboard a barge off the Guangdong coast near the city of Yangjiang were brought to safety, but 12 others were still stranded at sea as rescue efforts were hampered by high winds, Xinhua news agency reported.

The financial hub of Hong Kong escaped a direct hit from Prapiroon, which means ''God of rain'' in Thai, but strong winds caused delays and cancellations of flights at the airport.

Prapiroon was the sixth storm of the season to batter southern China, which is still reeling from tropical storms Bilis and Kaemi. Bilis killed more than 600 people when it struck in July, and was quickly followed by Kaemi, which claimed at least 30 lives.

REUTERS VJ RK0700