Over 270,000 Evacuated as Severe Tropical Storm Fung-wong Hits China

by TyphoonHunter | July 28, 2008 at 12:55 am | 2424 views | 22 comments

Update #5: July 29th 0330UTC (11.30am Taiwan/China time)

Severe tropical storm Fung-wong slammed into China's Fujian province late last night just south of Fuzhou. Packing sustained winds of 55 knots, gusting up to 75 knots, the storm brought torrential rains to a vast swathe of southern China.

According to Xinhua News Agency hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated prior to the arrival of the storm.

HANGZHOU, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in east China's Zhejiang Province evacuated 230,764 people and recalled 26,242 fishing boats on Monday as typhoon Fung Wong approached, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Forty-nine flights were canceled and two were delayed as of 4 p.m. at the Fuzhou International Airport in neighboring Fujian Province, and the airport pledged to provide accommodation and transport for the stranded passengers.

Typhoon Fung-wong earlier slammed into eastern Taiwan making landfall between the cities of Hualien and Taidong. The storm unleashed torrential rains and winds gusting up to 105kts on Taiwan keeping schools and businesses closed throughout the day. So far there are reports that one man was killed in Taiwan.

Fung-Wong lashed Taiwan yesterday with torrential rains and winds gusting to 155 kilometers an hour, killing one man and injuring six. Taiwanese authorities ordered financial markets and businesses to shut and closed schools as the typhoon hit.

The Taiwanese Central Weather Bureau (CWB) are issuing hourly updates which are available in both Chinese and English at their website.

According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency tropical storm Fung-wong currently has sustained winds of 45 knots, gusting to 65 knots and is heading west north west at 10 knots over Fujian province. It is expected to weaken further as it moves inland.

The name Fung-wong was contributed by Hong Kong and means phoenix as well as the name of a mountain in the territory.

Two weeks ago typhoon Kalmaegi struck northern Taiwan killing 19 people and causing extensive flooding across the island. Fung-wong is due to hit the same region tomorrow and could unleash another bout of deadly flooding in regions across Taiwan.

Be sure to check back here for more updates on this developing situation.

For more information please visit:

www.typhoonfury.com - My website with up to the minute information on typhoons in Asia from a variety of forecasting agencies

www.cwb.gov.tw - Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau

www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/0808.html - Japanese Meteorological Agency.

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TyphoonHunter

at 05:02 on July 26th, 2008

Thanks Zichi, it's going to be a busy few months I think. The latest forecast from JMA will be out in about 45 minutes.

Caoimhin1

at 05:19 on July 26th, 2008

good stuff:

TyphoonHunter, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Vinny

at 05:48 on July 26th, 2008

good stuff:

Stay Safe! I look forward to your coverage as always.

TyphoonHunter

at 07:46 on July 26th, 2008

Thanks guys.

JMA have upped this to 60kts know, just shy of typhoon strength. I'll be making a decision whether to travel to Taiwan early tomorrow morning local time.

Paschen

at 09:16 on July 26th, 2008

good stuff:

TyphoonHunter, I like this story. It's good stuff.

TyphoonHunter

at 18:45 on July 26th, 2008

I won't be travelling to Taiwan to cover this storm but will instead continue to monitor it from Shanghai. Now a typhoon according to JMA and due to hit eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning local time.

amyjudd

at 18:52 on July 26th, 2008

good stuff:

TyphoonHunter, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Great coverage as usual.

TyphoonHunter

at 05:22 on July 27th, 2008

Cheers.

New warning charts and images just uploaded.

Vinny

at 18:18 on July 27th, 2008

Thanks for the update!.

TyphoonHunter

at 18:19 on July 27th, 2008

Typhoon just made landfall so I put another update up. This is happening right now so there aren't any reports regarding aftermath coming in just yet. I'll scour the media today and once I see some info from mainstream press I'll include the links and updates in the piece.

MJ Klein (not verified)

at 21:49 on July 27th, 2008

reports now show the typhoon crossing the island by tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday). it's slowed considerably and it losing power because the eye is over land.

TyphoonHunter

at 23:45 on July 27th, 2008

I'm at work at the moment so can't do a full update I'm afraid.

The centre of Fung-wong is now WSW of Taizhong, right on the coast and is due to move offshore towards mainland China. By tomorrow morning conditions in Taiwan should be considerably better than they are now.

Rachel Nixon

at 09:49 on July 28th, 2008

news wanted:

I think this is an important story and would benefit from other NowPublic contributors working on it. I've flagged it as News Wanted and invite others in relevant locations to look for more evidence.

JeffHuang

at 13:50 on July 28th, 2008

good stuff:

TyphoonHunter, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Typhoon is a yearly thing in Taiwan. It happens every year, and the damage is always catastrophic. Many times there are landslides and flooding. Remote areas always get shuts off when mudslides cover the roads or bridges gets washed away. Rescuers send food and water by helicopter as there are no other ways of getting to these villages in the mountains.

I experienced a couple Taiwanese typhoons when I was little. The experience was quite intense. The winds breaking windows and throwing objects around, and also the vast amount of rain.

azzayindia

at 15:29 on July 28th, 2008

good stuff:

TyphoonHunter, I like this story. It's good stuff.

pichi chuang

at 15:44 on July 28th, 2008

good stuff:

TyphoonHunter, I like this story. It's good stuff.

4-6

at 19:13 on July 28th, 2008

(Taiwan / Taizhong / 劉雅君)
This is a beautiful sky before FUNG-WONG Typhoon comes. Tranquility before the storm. It's unusual sky, Rainbow , yellow cloud, red cloud. The FUNG-WONG typhoon causes 2 people death and 6 people wounded in Taiwan.

4-6 has contributed a photo to this story.

TyphoonHunter

at 20:31 on July 28th, 2008

Thanks for uploading all those pictures and for the reports from Taiwan. We're even feeling the effects of the storm here in Shanghai with gusty winds and heavy showers, obviously nothing compared to what's happened further south.

sacula225

at 00:24 on July 29th, 2008

The Fung-Wong Typhoon passed through taiwan at July 28,2008 and had caused a great water calamity islandwide.All the plants were gone with the typhoon.

sacula225 has contributed a photo to this story.

anion

at 05:41 on July 31st, 2008

Typhoon(Fung-wong)

anion has contributed a photo to this story.

∴Astrum∴

at 23:24 on August 4th, 2008

After getting advice to stay put when news of the storm arrived, I decided against the advice and drove to Tainan. This turned out to be a good idea as I moved from right in the middle of its path to the edge.
After Fung-Wong had passed I tried to get to the east of the island, which due to flooded roads and landslides turned out to be a full day's journey.

∴Astrum∴ has contributed a photo to this story.