Typhoon Chan-Hom weakens, leaves east China regions

The rapid decline of the strength of Typhoon Chan-Hom has given a break to coastal regions in east China, yet local governments are on alert of secondary disasters.

Chan-Hom, the ninth typhoon this year, made landfall on Saturday at 4:40 p.m. in Zhujiajian Township in the island city of Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province.

According to the provincial meteorological station, Chan-Hom, which packed winds of up to 53 meters per second in Dinghai and 49 meters per second in Shipu, downgraded to a tropical storm at 9 a.m. Sunday and left.

Data from the provincial hydrographic office show the average amount of rainfall in Zhejiang reached 77 millimeters from Saturday to Sunday. Ningbo City registered 217 mm of rain and neighboring Yuyao City 322 mm.

No casualties have been reported. A total of 1.92 million people in nine cities have been affected, including more than 1.11 million who were evacuated.

Direct economic losses are estimated at 5.86 billion yuan (940 million U.S. dollars), according to the provincial flood control and drought prevention headquarters.

The worst hit sector is agriculture with economic losses of 3.62 billion yuan, because the typhoon coincided with the picking period of vegetables and melons and wrecked havoc on agricultural facilities, the headquarters said.

Local government warned of water-logging disasters in some cities and torrents in mountainous regions following the record rainfall brought by the typhoon.

As of early Sunday morning, the storm has passed the same latitude as Shanghai about 100 kilometers off the city's coast and moved towards northeast, the municipal meteorological observatory said.

The city government has lifted the warning as rains and winds weakened significantly on Sunday.

According to the city's flood control authority, Shanghai evacuated 163,000 people and called back 3,000 ships to harbor on Saturday, as the city experienced rainstorms of up to 114.6 mm and strong gales of over 30 meters per second.

On Saturday, the typhoon prostrated more than 3,000 trees in Shanghai and forced the city's subway to suspend service on some stretches. More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at the city's two airports.

The neighboring Jiangsu Province also ended the emergency response on Sunday noon after Chan-Hom, which forced more than 78,900 people to be evacuated and 22,423 ships recalled, failed to bring more rain or wind to the province, local flood control and drought prevention headquarters said.

However, many rivers and lakes are still running above the warning water lines, leading to high potential of floods and mudslides, the headquarters warned. Endi