Sinlaku landed at the juncture of Fuding City, in Fujian Province, and Cangnan County, in neighboring Zhejiang Province, at a speed of 32.9 meters per minute at around 6:30 pm Saturday, bringing heavy rain.

The worst hit areas are Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, Ningde and Futian cities. The typhoon also destroyed a great number of embankments built to hold back the sea, damaged 107,000 houses, and inundated a large area of cropland.

The direct economic losses caused by the typhoon are estimated at 2.56 billion yuan (US$308 million).

However, an expert from the provincial flood control office believed the actual damage in Fujian would increase as the typhoon continued.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2002)