China battens down after storm lashes Taiwan

BEIJING, Aug 8 (Reuters) China has relocated hundreds of thousands of people along its southeast coast as it battens down for a storm expected to hit today after brushing Taiwan.

Tropical storm Pabuk lashed southern Taiwan, a self-ruled island off China's southeast coast, with heavy rains, temporarily cutting power to more than 50,000 homes and causing minor flooding, officials said, but there was no widespread damage.

By 0730 hrs ist, the centre of the storm was about 180 km southeast of Shantou in Guangdong province and was moving west at 25 kph, with maximum gusts of 108 kph, the National Meteorological Centre said.

The storm follows a summer of incessant natural disasters in China in which 936 people have died in floods, landslides and house collapses triggered by rainstorms, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its Web site (www.mca.gov.cn).

Fourteen hours of downpours since Monday night had killed another 17 people in Ankang in the normally dry province of Shaanxi in the northwest, Xinhua news agency said. Thirty-three were missing as crops and roads were damaged.

Pabuk would cross the coast near Shantou or Zhaoan in Fujian province later in the day, the meteorological centre said on its Web site (www.nmc.gov.cn).

Shantou had ordered the evacuation of those living in dangerous places, the suspension of classes in its kindergartens and the reinforcing of billboards and scaffolds, according the local government's Web site (www.shantou.gov.cn).

In Fujian, about 138,000 people had been evacuated from their sea farms in coastal waters, while more than 6,700 boats had returned to shore, Xinhua and the provincial government said.

Chinese news portals showed pictures of coastal villagers boarding up their windows with planks.

Hong Kong has raised its signal No. 1 warning, which means a tropical storm or typhoon is centred within 800 km of the city and might affect it.

If Pabuk maintains its current track, it will pass very close to Hong Kong, and the city might raise the alert level to a signal No. 3 strong wind warning, the Hong Kong Observatory said on its Web site www.hko.gov.hk.

Downpours are forecast for large parts of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, prompting authorities to warn of floods and landslides, but the rain is also expected to ease nearly a month of scorching heat and drought in the region.

A new tropical storm, Wutip, formed in Pacific waters off the Philippines today and was moving northwest towards Taiwan as it gathered strength, the National Meteorological Centre said.

Tropical storms in the region gather intensity from the warm ocean waters and frequently develop into typhoons that hit Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and southern China during a season that lasts from early summer to late autumn.

REUTERS SG KP1141