More than four lakh people were evacuated in China as typhoon Nepartak today lashed the country’s eastern coast with powerful winds and heavy rains, disrupting air, rail and road traffic and prompting authorities to issue this year’s first red alert.

The first typhoon of the season landed at 1:45 pm (local time) in Fujian province’s Shishi city, packing winds of up to about 100 kms per hour.

Officials have evacuated and urgently relocated more than 420,000 lakh people from low-lying areas in four cities, including the provincial capital of Fuzhou and ordered 33,200 fishing boats to return to ports.

Forty-three people in a residential area were rescued by firefighters after floodwaters submersed two buildings. Many buildings have collapsed and landslides were reported in rural and mountainous areas.

Five airports were closed, resulting in the cancellation of nearly 400 flights. A total of 341 high-speed trains had to be canceled. Nearly 5,000 buses were off the roads, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Air-passenger services and passenger ships to Taiwan across strait have all been suspended. Over 100 trains have been canceled this weekend and road traffic has been disrupted, the report said.

China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) has issued this year’s first red alert, warning people of havoc due to Typhoon Nepartak which is approaching the Chinese coast.

The SOA estimated that sea waves as high as nine meters will emerge in Taiwan Strait, while coastal waters near Fujian province will see waves as high as six meters.

A red rainstorm alert has been issued in Putian city, which experienced more than 250 millimeters of precipitation in four hours early this morning.

Over 22,600 people have been dispatched to check the city’s water projects, local flood control headquarters said.

So far, 160 people were killed and 28 missing in heavy rains and floods in a number of provinces in the last few weeks ahead of the typhoon. In the worst hit province, Hubei, 69 people were killed and 16 more reported missing.

Typhoon Nepartak made first landfall early yesterday in eastern Taiwan, packing winds of up to 190 kms per hour gusting up to 234 kms per hour leaving two people dead and 72 injured.

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