Typhoon Chanchu, packing winds up to 170 kmh (106 mph), was forecast to make landfall northeast of Hong Kong in Guangdong province later on Wednesday after killing 37 people as it swept across the Philippines last weekend.

Chinese state television news said some 320,000 people were evacuated from their homes along the coast of Guangdong province, while over 300,000 were moved in neighboring Fujian province.

Fujian called back all ships to port, and Guangdong called back in more than 58,000 vessels as schools suspended classes, it said, adding that strong rainfalls brought by Chanchu were posing flood threats.

An ore-carrying Belgian ship with eight crew members aboard was trapped some 200 sea miles offshore on the South China Sea on Wednesday and a Chinese rescue vessel was expected to reach it on Thursday morning, the news broadcast said.

In Taiwan, where most areas were lashed by heavy rains, rescuers winched to safety the crew of an oil tanker that had run aground off the coast of Kaoshiung in the south after being hit by a large wave, television footage showed.

From

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060517/sc_nm/weather_china_dc_3