Typhoon Meranti causes extensive damage in East China

Buildings suffer severe damage in Xiamen city, East China's Fujian province. [Photo/IC]

The Xiamen Power Supply Co. said that the typhoon has made severe damages to the power grid in Xiamen, causing mass blackout. The electricity supply was also disrupted in Xiamen's outlying islands. As the typhoon is further plowing inland, more damages of the power network are likely.

Thursday coincided with China's Mid-Autumn Festival, which gives a three-day public holiday. Schools and kindergartens in coastal cities of Fuzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Putian in Fujian were closed Wednesday in precaution against the typhoon.

The railway authorities in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, announced Wednesday to cancel 144 trains that had been scheduled between Wednesday to Saturday to southern and eastern cities in an emergent response to the typhoon.