Clouds hang over China's Fujian province as Typhoon Saomai approaches Aug. 10.

Typhoon Saomai sank more than 1,000 ships and wrecked more than 50,000 houses when it slammed into China's southeastern city of Fuding on Aug. 10 with winds of up to 270 kph.

The storm blacked out parts of Fuding and five other cities in Fujian province. More than 1.6 million people fled their homes in Fujian and the neighboring coastal province of Zhejiang.

Saomai, the Vietnamese name for the planet Venus, was the eighth major storm to hit China during an unusually violent typhoon season.

The Chinese weather bureau said the storm was the most powerful typhoon since its record-keeping began in 1949.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 19, 2006
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