Typhoon that pounded China weakens into tropical storm

Typhoon causes massive evacuation in China

SEOUL, South Korea -- A typhoon that battered the Chinese coast has weakened into a tropical storm as it pushes toward the Korean Peninsula, where some South Korean flights were canceled due to strong winds and rain.

Tropical Storm Chan-hom is packing winds of up to 52 miles (85 kilometers) per hour. According to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, it is centered over the Yellow Sea about 185 miles (297 kilometer) southwest of Seoul and is forecast to move across the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea late Sunday or early Monday.

It is then expected to dissipate over North Korea.

Rescuers use an inflatable boat to evacuate residents from a neighborhood flooded by heavy rains from Typhoon Chan-Hom in Shaoxing in eastern China's Zhejiang province Saturday, July 11, 2015. AP

On Saturday, the storm hit land with winds of up to 100 miles per hour near Zhoushan, a city east of the port of Ningbo in Zhejiang province.

The national weather service said earlier the typhoon might be the strongest to strike China since the communist government took power in 1949. It initially was deemed a super-typhoon but was downgraded at midday Saturday to a strong typhoon and was weakening further as it moved inland.

No casualties have been reported from heavy rains that pounded areas south of Shanghai in China on Saturday. Some 1.1 million were evacuated as a precaution.

Chan-hom is the second major storm to hit China this week, after Typhoon Linfa forced 56,000 people from their homes in the southern province of Guangdong province.

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