Super typhoon slams into China

FUZHOU, China, Aug 10 (Reuters) Super Typhoon Saomai, the strongest to threaten China in 50 years, slammed into the southeast coast today after forcing more than 1.5 million people from their homes.

Saomai, one of three storms to hit West Asia in the past few days, made landfall at 1455 (IST) in Cangnan county near the booming city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, state television said.

Storm tracker Tropical Storm Risk had graded Saomai a category five ''super'' typhoon - its highest category - but revised that down to category four once it came ashore.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Chinese state media said it was the most powerful storm to hit the country since August 1956, when a typhoon hit Zhejiang, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 3,000.

''Saomai is packing winds of 216 km per hour and has outpaced forecasts,'' Xinhua quoted Li Yuzhu, head of the Zhejiang provincial observatory, as saying.

Wenzhou residents had reinforced windows and doors against the storm and stockpiled drinking water and food, state television said.

Wenzhou airport had closed and hundreds of passengers were stranded because of cancelled flights, one airport manager said.

''We don't know when we will open again,'' the manager, surnamed Zhou, told Reuters by telephone. ''The wind is only fitful but rain is really heavy here.'' GONG ALERT Wenzhou, once a prosperous foreign treaty port and now a manufacturing centre, has a central population of 1.3 million, but there are 7.4 million in the greater Wenzhou area.

Xinhua reported that Zhejiang had already evacuated nearly one million people, with another 569,000 people moved in the neighbouring province of Fujian, as heavy rain, strong winds and a high tide hit the area.

Schools, theatres and stadiums had been opened as shelters for the displaced, a Wenzhou official said. Factories, shops and offices had been ordered to stop all activities ''unrelated to battling the typhoon''.

Officials in Wenzhou's Cangnan county resorted to television, Internet, text messaging and even two satellite phones to alert residents about Saomai.

They had also prepared 30 gongs, traditionally used in ancient China to warn people of disasters, the local government said on its Web site.

Much of south China has been repeatedly battered by typhoons and tropical storms this year. Hundreds have been killed by rainstorms, mudslides and floods.

Tropical storm Bilis killed more than 600 in China last month and typhoon Prapiroon killed about 80 last week.

Tropical storm Bopha fizzled to the south of Taiwan this week and another veered towards the east of Japan.

Typhoons and tropical storms are common each year in Taiwan, southeast China and the Philippines between July and October.

REUTERS SRS VV1603