Beijing, Aug 8, 2011 (AFP) - Workers battled Monday to protect a chemical plant on China's northeast coast after waves from a severe tropical storm breached a dyke, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Severe Tropical Storm Muifa is barrelling towards the northeastern province of Liaoning, where it is expected to make landfall later Monday after being downgraded from a typhoon.
Xinhua said people living near the Fujiahua chemical plant in Dalian, a city in Liaoning, were being evacuated after the dyke protecting it from the sea was breached on Monday morning. Soldiers and workers with forklift trucks were involved in the rescue effort, the report said, without giving any further details. Tens of thousands of people living along China's east coast were evacuated over the weekend as Muifa approached, amid fears it would hit the country's densely populated commercial capital Shanghai. Chinese airlines cancelled hundreds of flights and thousands of fishing boats were ordered to stay in port. But the city was spared a direct hit, suffering only some power outages and minor damage as the storm passed by.
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