Typhoon Bilis reaches Chinese mainland

BEIJING (CNN) -- Typhoon Bilis lost its "super" status on Wednesday as it made landfall on the southeastern coast of China, but not before the devastating storm had swept across the island of Taiwan, leaving 11 people dead, 10 missing and 80 injured. Play video Half of the dead were buried by mudslides and the others were hit by falling debris. Chinese weather officials said winds and rain from the typhoon began to hit the Chinese mainland at 10 a.m. Wednesday (0200 GMT) in the city of Jin Jiang. At 7 p.m. local time (1100 GMT), the storm center was located 175 kilometers (108 miles) southwest of Fu Chun, China, packing winds of 167 km/h (103 mph). CNN weather forecaster Guillermo Arduino said southern China was expected to receive 125 millimeters (five inches) of rain by late Thursday, and that could cause mudslides and flooding. He said, however, that the storm -- which had packed winds up to 260 km/h (156 mph) when it devastated Taiwan late Tuesday and early Wednesday -- would not regain its strength because it was interacting with land. Interaction with land, or friction, weakens typhoons, which are fueled in part by the warmth off ocean waters, Arduino said. A storm is considered a typhoon if it has winds of 120 km/h (75 mph). A super typhoon is defined as a storm with sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph). Massive Damage in Taiwan In Taiwan, authorities said about 440,000 households were without electrical power after the then-super typhoon moved through. Reporters said that concrete buildings shook as the 260 km/h (161 mph) winds moved across the island. All domestic airline flights were canceled and train traffic was halted. Two villages in the southern part of the country had to be evacuated because of the threat of mudslides. In one mountainous village, nine people were trapped when a mudslide covered their house. An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale hit eastern Taiwan in the afternoon, causing more landslides. http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/weather/08/23/asia.typhoon.03/