China braces for 2nd typhoon; Taiwan drenched

A taxi maneuvers around a fallen tree from Typhoon Matmo Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, July 23, 2014. The eye of Typhoon Matmo made landfall in eastern Taiwan early Wednesday bringing with it heavy rains and winds with gusts over 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour.  AP

BEIJING — China was bracing Wednesday for the arrival of a second typhoon in as many weeks, as communities along the country’s southern coast cleared away debris in the wake of the earlier storm that killed 46 people.

Authorities in eastern Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, ordered fishing boats to return to port and stepped up patrols to watch for breaks in coastal and river embankments, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Typhoon Matmo (locally named Henry in the Philippines), with sustained winds of 140 kilometers (85 miles) per hour, was churning northwest toward the heavily populated coast of Fujian province after dumping heavy rains on Taiwan overnight.

The typhoon injured five people in Taiwan and knocked out power to 31,505 homes, the island’s Central News Agency reported.

The center of the typhoon was forecast to turn north after hitting land and pass over areas west of Shanghai, the country’s biggest business center, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

Rains of up to 300 millimeters (12 inches) were forecast in Shanghai and areas as far north as Jiangsu province, Xinhua said, citing the country’s weather agency.

Farther south on the mainland, communities in Guangdong province and on Hainan Island were clearing away debris left by Typhoon Ramassun (named Glenda in the Philippines), which killed 46 people in China and 151 in total as it rampaged across the Philippines, China and Vietnam last week.

Ramassun became the strongest typhoon to hit China in four decades, destroying tens of thousands of homes, damaging roads and ports and cutting electricity and water supplies in southern Chinese cities. It packed winds of up to 216 kph (130 mph), according to the China Meteorological Administration.

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