The number of fatalities in east China resulting from the impact of Typhoon Wipha has risen to six, and three others are missing.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs said last night that five of the deaths were caused by landslides triggered by Wipha.

The sixth victim was a man who died in Shanghai on Tuesday night when he stepped into an electrified puddle.

A total of 2.67 million people in Shanghai and Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangsu provinces had been relocated by 6 PM yesterday.

The typhoon also destroyed more than 9,600 houses and damaged 42,000 others, and direct economic losses stood at 6.62 billion yuan (US$881 million), it said.

Wipha, which has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, was late last night moving northwest at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. The wind speed at the eye of the storm dropped to 72kmh.

Wipha is expected to enter Jiangsu Province in the early hours of this morning and then pass to the Yellow Sea, the China Meteorological Administration said.

It caused 14 hours of havoc in Zhejiang where it made landfall, according to Pan Jinsong, vice director of the Zhejiang Meteorological Station.

The storm brought torrential rain to Jiangsu, with some cities receiving more than 150 millimeters.

China mobilized more than 20,000 military troops and reservists to help local people by reinforcing flood barriers along the main rivers.

At first it was believed that the full force of the storm would hit Shanghai, but the city escaped relatively unscathed, with about one million yuan in losses, local flood-control authorities reported yesterday.

Just three houses collapsed in the city and 128 streets suffered flooding in the downtown area, affecting more than 8,000 families.

The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau reduced the orange typhoon alert to yellow at 11:06am yesterday, and the expected strong winds and heavy rain did not eventuate.

The Shanghai Flood Control Headquarters said the 291,000 people evacuated from coastal areas started to move back home yesterday afternoon.

Today the city is expected to receive more rain in the aftermath of Wipha. The weather bureau also forecast a cold front from the north and the flood headquarters has warned authorities to remain on alert.

Primary and secondary schools in Nanhui District and some schools for migrant children will remain closed today. They will reopen tomorrow.

(Shanghai Daily September 20, 2007)