Typhoon Chan-hom makes landfall in eastern China

Typhoon Chan-hom made landfall in eastern China on an island near the city of Ningbo late in the afternoon today, the Chinese government said.

According to the National Meteorological Centre, (NMC) Chan-hom, which the government classified as a ''strong'' typhoon, landed at Zhujiajian town at around 4.40 pm (0840 GMT). The centre, however, gave no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The storm whipped up waves of up to 10 metres high, according to the US government's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.

Zhejiang, which evacuated around 960,000 people also called its entire fishing fleet back to port, according to state media. Provincial authorities earlier said that nearly 30,000 vessels had moored safely.

Typhoon winds knocked down trees and street signs across Zhejiang and an unoccupied building in the city of Cixi, provincial television reported.

Parts of Zhejiang were deluged with over 300 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours before Saturday morning, according to the local government.

The city government, in Shanghai maintained its second most serious typhoon alert and urged people not to venture out of their homes. Authorities cancelled several public events as rain picked up towards midday.

''We recommend everyone does their best to use 'squatting at home' tactics to welcome the typhoon,'' the Shanghai government said in a posting on its official microblog.

Earlier this week, China had evacuated almost a million people from the area.

Authorities, warned the powerful storm could turn out to be the strongest typhoon to hit Zhejiang province since 1949.

The storm left five people dead in the Philippines earlier this week injuring more than 20 people in Japan.

Top sustained winds had been estimated at 169km/h, making Chan-hom a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

The Weather Channel last evening reported Typhoon Chan-hom would make a direct hit on eastern China, including the city of Shanghai, within 24 hours.

The typhoon comes as the second storm to hit China in days following severe tropical storm Linfa made landfall on the coast of Guangdong province further south.

According to the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre, after hitting China, Chan-hom would head towards the Korean peninsula, bringing ''gale-force'' winds to the west coast of South Korea.