China braced Thursday for heavy rains as Tropical Storm Podul made landfall in several southern provinces and thousands of people were evacuated.
Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces were the focus of the preparation efforts, but alarms were at a relatively low level given the storm’s loss of strength as it passed over Taiwan on Wednesday. About 15,000 people had been evacuated from seaside areas in southern China as of Wednesday, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
