Beijing -
Authorities evacuated more than 1.8 million people as Typhoon Haikui buffeted eastern China with gales and torrential rain on Wednesday, killing at least two people.
Haikui became the third typhoon in a week to strike China, making landfall at 3.20am (19.20 GMT Tuesday) in Hepu township in Zhejiang province, the provincial meteorological observatory reported. It brought winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour and waves up to 5 metres on the coast, the agency said.
The local Dushi Kuaibao newspaper reported that two people died in Shanghai after they were hit by falling debris.
Zhejiang evacuated about 1.5 million people from vulnerable areas as the typhoon approached while the neighbouring Shanghai region evacuated 374 000 people, the government said.
The gales toppled a Ferris wheel in Ningbo and blew off a stadium roof in Jiaxing while more than 1,000 tourists were stranded at the top of a mountain in Zhejiang's Anxi county, state media said.
The main airport in the provincial capital, Hangzhou, was closed until 3 pm, and high-speed rail services in the region were suspended.
Rescue workers evacuated 123 people who were cut off by flooding in three hostels in Zhejiang's Lin'an city, where 10 others were still stranded, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the local government as saying.
Initial economic losses in Zhejiang were estimated at 5 billion yuan (805 million dollars), including 2.4 billion yuan in damage to agriculture.
Haikui is the third typhoon to batter China in the past week.
At least 25 people died and several were missing in central and north-eastern China after Typhoons Saola and Damrey hit the regions from Friday to Monday. - Sapa-dpa