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SHANGHAI - Typhoon Wipha abruptly lost strength after it crossed the eastern coast of China yesterday and looked set to miss Shanghai as it headed north.
However, the storm toppled hundreds of homes and knocked out power and water supplies as it swept in from the sea some 650km south of the country's financial hub.
More than two million people had been evacuated in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang and Shanghai ahead of what officials had predicted would be a powerful and destructive typhoon.
But forecaster Tropical Storm Risk downgraded Wipha to a category one typhoon from a powerful category 4 after it made landfall and said it would weaken further into a tropical storm as it headed north towards Nanjing.
Its projection showed the eye of the storm passing some 250km to the west of Shanghai within 24 hours.
Xinhua news agency said Wipha was approaching Shanghai at 20km/h but that it had already been downgraded to a tropical storm.
One man was electrocuted in Shanghai ahead of the storm on Tuesday, but there were no other immediate reports of casualties.
Xinhua news agency said Wipha, a Thai name for a girl, toppled 669 houses, disrupted power supply in 1867 villages and "affected" about 5 million people, causing direct economic losses of US$38 ($52) million.
Officials said it was too early to assess the damage.
- Reuters
