More than 1,000 cars were yesterday stranded in Haikou, capital of China's southernmost province of Hainan, as typhoon Nepartak showed no sign of abating.

They are waiting to head back to the mainland via ferries.

"The typhoon is sweeping northward at 10 kilometers per hour and we have seen nothing to suggest it will ease up," Li Yifei, a senior engineer with the Hainan Provincial Meteorological Bureau, said yesterday.

"We think its influence in the city will hang around for some time."

An anonymous official at Haikou Harbor refuted earlier reports that ferry operations would return to normal this morning. She said no "clear-cut'' order has been given for the resumption of services.

And no passengers are able to use ferries to commute between the island and mainland, the official said.

According to Li, the lives of almost all of the people in the city, as well as in the province's other cities of Sanya and Dongfang, have been disrupted by the typhoon as it dumps torrential rain and whips up devastatingly strong winds.

"Most people have had to stay at home as moving around is inconvenient and dangerous,,'' said Li.

Nepartak's influence reached the island province on Sunday night. Although typhoons are normal for the area this time of year, Nepartak has caused excessive damage.

"Hainan has been hit by torrential rain from tropical cyclones since the end of October, in addition to the rare strong cold currents that moved through at the end of September,'' said Li. "It is giving local farmers a hard time.''

No official statistics regarding direct losses from the typhoon are available as yet.

Among the few Hainan people celebrating are those selling winter clothing.

A Xinhua report says the turnovers of major clothes wholesalers in Haikou have seen obvious increases due to the slump in temperature.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2003)