One person was killed and 39 injured by high winds and landslides.

Sinlaku brought heavy rain to the area when it reached land at the juncture of Fuding in Fujian Province and Cangnan County in neighboring Zhejiang Province at a speed of 32.9 meters per minute at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The worst-hit areas were Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, and the cities of Ningde and Futian.

The typhoon destroyed several embankments built to hold back the sea, damaged 107,000 houses, and inundated a large area of cropland in the province.

Meanwhile, thousands of people in the southeast were living in tents yesterday after the typhoon ripped apart homes and killed at least 24 people.

Some 300,000 people were forced out of their homes in and around the city of Wenzhou after Sinlaku slammed into coastal Zhejiang Province on Saturday, said an official in the city's Disaster Relief Office.

High winds and landslides destroyed more than 14,000 homes, the official said. He said winds hit speeds of 40 meters per second - the equivalent of 144 kph.

The typhoon killed 23 people and one person was missing in Wenzhou and the surrounding area, he said.

Much of Wenzhou lost electricity on Saturday as winds snapped power lines, but power has been restored.

In several fishing ports just south of Wenzhou, waves up to 17 meters high swept away five big fishing piers and sank at least one large fishing ship.

More than 50 other large fishing vessels were damaged as waves knocked them together as they sat anchored, said the official.

The waves also broke through dikes protecting ponds where farmers raised crab and shrimp, allowing millions of the animals to escape, he said. Losses from the lost sea life and damaged dikes totaled more than 2.6 billion yuan.

(eastday.com September 10, 2002)