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Typhoon Muifa, the ninth typhoon to hit China this year, weakened as it approached the coastal areas of Zhejiang province on Sunday morning, before it turned north to the coastal area of Shandong province.

Eighteen flights departing from or arriving at Qingdao airport on the coast were canceled on Sunday. Most of those flights were headed for southern cities, such as Shanghai or Hangzhou.

Using ropes, police rescued 53 tourists, who were briefly stranded on an island off the port of Qingdao as surging waters submerged a rock bridge linking it to the mainland.

Rizhao, a coastal tourist city in Shandong province, has ordered the closure of all scenic spots and seawater pools to prevent accidents.

Crews working on the off-shore platforms of Shengli Oilfield, China's key oil production base located near Weihai, started to evacuate Sunday.

Xinhua News Agency reported more than 610,000 people were evacuated from threatened areas in Shanghai and the provinces of Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong, the country's most affluent and populated areas. More than 62,700 vessels were also ordered to dock in these areas. No deaths have been reported so far.

The National Meteorological Center said on Sunday that moving at a speed of 25 km/h, Typhoon Muifa was likely to hit land at the eastern part of Shandong Peninsula early on Monday morning.

Muifa, which had been expected to reach land at Shanghai, still caused problems in the city over the weekend. In Zhejiang, the rain and strong winds triggered by the typhoon brought down 169 houses, destroyed the harvest of 3,500 metric tons of crops and 121,300 metric tons of aquatic products.

Direct economic losses were estimated at 1.87 billion yuan ($289.9 million), according to the provincial disaster relief agency. The agency ordered two more provinces - Jilin and Heilongjiang in the Northeast - to increase disaster relief efforts as the typhoon headed toward them.

Questions:

1. How many tourists did police rescue?

2. What speed is Muifa moving at?

3. How much are the estimated economic losses?

Answers:

1. 53.

2. 25 km/h.

3. 1.87 billion yuan.

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.