Influenced by tropical storm Fung Wong, the floods in east China's Shandong Province have hurt the livelihoods of more than 280,000 people and caused 8,536 people to be evacuated.

Rain poured continuously in Weifang, Yantai and Linyi cities on Wednesday and Thursday, which triggered severe floods, according to the provincial civil affairs bureau.

The disaster damaged crops on 24,240 hectares of farmland and another 8,280 hectares of crops were destroyed.

It caused a direct economic loss of 144 million yuan (about US$21.2 million) in the province.

In the worst-hit Xiashan District of Weifang, the continuous rainfall since July 18 had amounted to 340 millimeters. Of the 221 villages in the district, 207 ones suffered damages. A total of 1,483 people have difficulty in finding drinking water.

Fung Wong, the eighth typhoon to hit China this year, weakened into tropical storm early on Tuesday after making landfall in Fuqing, Fujian Province, late on Monday.

It hit Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces and also impacted the Yangtze River estuary.

The area worst hit by Fung Wong was Fujian. The provincial authorities on Wednesday said the economic losses of Fung Wong were 1 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2008)