1M Flee as Typhoon Hits China

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 9, 2009 5:49 AM CDT

(Newser) – Some one million people on China's southeast coast have fled ahead of a massive typhoon spawning 30-foot waves and packing 74 mph winds, reports the BBC. Typhoon Morakot made landfall early today in Fujan Province after authorities sent more than 8 million text messages warning residents to evacuate. Morakot dumped more than 8 feet of rain on Taiwan earlier this week, triggering the worst flooding in 50 years. The typhoon also sparked violent rains in the Philippines, where at least 10 people died.

[Images (6)]

[Videos (1)]

A typhoon slammed into Taiwan this week, leaving scores of people dead or missing and more than a dozen injured. (AP Photo)

A town is inundated in Taiwan. (AP Photo)

A pedestrian struggles with winds brought on by approaching Typhoon Morakot in Taipei, Taiwan, earlier this week. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

A young boy struggles with his umbrella in winds brought on by approaching Typhoon Morakot. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Waves from approaching Typhoon Morakot pound the northeast shoreline of Taiwan on Friday. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

A six-story hotel in Chihpen, Taitung county, Taiwan collapses and plunges into a river after floodwaters eroded its base as typhoon Morakot slammed through the area. The typhoon stuck China today. (AP Photo/ETTV Television)

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Almost a million people in China flee Typhoon Morakot after it rams Taiwan. (itnnews)

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