Torrential rain drenched China's southeastern coast yesterday as the government downgraded Typhoon Megi to a tropicaldepression and more than 300,000 evacuees waited to return to their battered homes.

Megi hit Fujian Province on Saturday, dumping up to 33 centimeters of rain on coastal villages after earlier cutting a swath of destruction through Taiwan and the Philippines. Landslides and flooding in Taiwan killed as many as 13 people, and at least 28 people died in the northern Philippines.

No deaths were reported on China's mainland but there was extensive damage to fishing boats and shellfish beds in coastal Fujian, where more heavy rain fell yesterday.

An estimated 313,700 people were evacuated and authorities were deciding yesterday whether it was safe to return, said an employee of the provincial Flood Control Headquarters. "After checking the safety of houses, different areas can decide when to allow people to return," the employee told The Associated Press.

The state weather bureau downgraded Megi to a tropical storm on Saturday as its wind speeds slowed and later lowered its status to a depression. The government lifted a typhoon alert early yesterday.

In the city of Zhangzhou in Fujian, officials estimated damage from the storm at 1.5 billion yuan (US$220 million), the Guangzhou Daily newspaper said on its website.

The Internet portal Sina.com cited a resident near the port of Gulei as saying some 2,000 fishing boats were damaged and unusable. Sina said its reporter saw uprooted trees, billboards torn down and flooded farmland.

Ferry services linking Xiamen, a coastal business center, with the Taiwanese island of Jinmen resumed yesterday after a two-day suspension that stranded thousands of travelers, the China News Service reported.

In Taiwan, the government said on Saturday that rescuers had found mangled vehicle parts thought to be a missing bus carrying 20 tourists from the Chinese mainland. Nine people were buried in a landslide at a Buddhist temple and four others drowned in their homes.

The 20 missing people from the mainland included 19 tourists from Guangdong Province, and a tourist group leader from Beijing. Their bus was hit by mud and rock on a section of the Suao-Hualien Highway on the island's east coast. Two local tour guides and one local driver were also out of contact, Taiwan's tourism authorities said.

Three other local people in two vehicles were also missing on the highway, bringing the total number of missing people to 26, said the local emergencymanagement authority on Saturday morning.

The storm forced the cancellation of nearly 80 flights at the airport in Xiamen.

Megi bypassed Vietnam, but the country's central provinces were battered by rain over the past week that killed at least 75 people and forced more than 170,000 people from their homes.

Thailand also suffered flooding and the government said at least 23 people died.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• depression [di´preʃən] n.沮丧，抑郁；萧条 (初中英语单词)
• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• destruction [di´strʌkʃən] n.破坏，毁灭 (初中英语单词)
• extensive [ik´stensiv] a.广阔的；大量的 (初中英语单词)
• headquarters [´hed,kwɔ:təz] n.总部(署)，司令部 (初中英语单词)
• bureau [´bjuərəu] n.局；编辑部；事务所 (初中英语单词)
• missing [´misiŋ] a.缺掉的；失踪的 (初中英语单词)
• temple [´tempəl] n.庙宇；寺院；太阳穴 (初中英语单词)
• highway [´haiwei] n.公路，大道 (初中英语单词)
• contact [´kɔntækt] n.接触；联系 v.联络 (初中英语单词)
• management [´mænidʒmənt] n.管理；处理；经营 (初中英语单词)
• tropical [´trɔpikəl] a.热带地区的 (高中英语单词)
• philippines [´filipi:nz] n.菲律宾 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• resident [´rezidənt] a.居住的 n.居民 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• reporter [ri´pɔ:tə] n.报告人；记者；广播员 (高中英语单词)
• tourist [´tuərist] n.游客，观光者 (高中英语单词)
• emergency [i´mə:dʒənsi] n.事变；紧急关头 (高中英语单词)
• mainland [´meinlənd] n.大陆；本土 (英语四级单词)
• fishing [´fiʃiŋ] n.钓鱼；捕鱼；渔业 (英语四级单词)
• provincial [prə´vinʃəl] a.省的 n.外省人 (英语四级单词)
• status [´steitəs] n.身份；情形；状况 (英语四级单词)
• portal [´pɔ:tl] n.(正)门；隧道 (英语四级单词)
• suspension [sə´spenʃən] n.吊；中止；暂停 (英语四级单词)
• vehicle [´vi:ikəl] n.车辆；媒介物 (英语四级单词)