Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese authorities evacuated more than 1.4 million people from two southeastern provinces and ordered 75,000 boats to return to harbor as Typhoon Krosa slammed into the coast, before weakening to a tropical storm.

Krosa landed between Cangnan in Zhejiang province and Fuding in the neighboring Fujian province at 3:30 p.m. local time yesterday, with wind speeds as high as 119 kilometers (75 miles) per hour, the China Meteorological Administration said by e-mail.

By 5 a.m. local time today, Krosa was centered about 435 kilometers south-southwest of Shanghai, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest advisory. Maximum sustained winds were 83 kilometers per hour and the storm, which has been stationary for about six hours, was losing strength, the center said.

The typhoon, the 17th of the northwest Pacific cyclone season, swept across Taiwan two days ago, killing five people and injuring 53 others, Taiwan's Fire Agency said in a statement. Authorities in Fujian prepared 22,000 tents, 50,000 boxes of bottled water and 150 metric tons of rice for people affected by the storm, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Krosa's arrival coincided with the last day of a weeklong holiday in China. Scenic areas along the coast were closed and more than 200 sightseeing boats, which usually carry at least 100,000 tourists a day during the holidays, also stayed in port, Xinhua reported.

Flights Canceled

Wenzhou city in Zhejiang province canceled all flights yesterday amid rainstorms, Xinhua said. A rehearsal for the closing ceremony for the Special Olympics in Shanghai was also postponed to Oct. 9 from today in anticipation of storm damage. Yesterday's Formula 1 Grand Prix in the city went ahead without any weather problems.

Krosa, then rated as a supertyphoon, hit Taiwan two days ago with wind speeds as high as 227 kilometers per hour, according to the island's Central Weather Bureau. More than 170,000 households on the island suffered power blackouts as a result of the storm, which also caused flooding in areas of Taipei.

Krosa is the Cambodian word for a species of crane, according to the Hong Kong Observatory's Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Li Yanping in Beijing at yli16@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 7, 2007 20:18 EDT