Fifty-nine trainee police officers were missing on Monday after mountain torrents swelled by Typhoon Longwang swept away two buildings at their academy in south-east China, state media reported.
The floodwater washed away two residential buildings at the centre in Fujian province, Xinhua news agency said. An earlier report by the agency identified a landslide as the cause of the disaster.
President Hu Jintao ordered an all-out rescue operation after the accident on Sunday night and military and police teams were sent immediately to coordinate operations, it said.
The accident took place at a training base of the Fuzhou Command School of Armed Police, the agency said, without giving a precise location. It said police, troops, local government workers and residents had joined the search.
Three dead in landslides
At least three people were killed as Typhoon Longwang brought heavy rain, flooding and strong winds to south-eastern China before weakening as it moved inland, officials said on Monday.
The three died in landslides, the Fujian Water Works Office said on its website. The storm has also destroyed 5 400 houses and crops on more than 26 000ha of farmland in the province.
The typhoon lashed Fujian for 10 hours, uprooting trees and causing extensive flooding that affected about 2,46-million people, it said.
The provincial governments of Fujian and Guangdong evacuated nearly 600 000 people as the storm approached after churning across Taiwan, where it left one dead, one missing and 46 injured.
Most of the injured in Taiwan were hurt by flying debris or broken glass in the eastern county of Hualien that bore the brunt, with power lines felled.
In Fujian, the storm caused direct economic losses worth 1,2-billion yuan ($148-million), with the capital city, Fuzhou, recording 278mm of rainfall.
But the cyclone weakened considerably after landing late on Sunday night near Jinjiang, packing winds of up to 120kph at its centre.
”The typhoon has quickly weakened into a tropical depression,” said an official at the meteorological bureau in Fujian province. ”It is not having too big an impact here. There are rainfalls in some regions, but they are not too bad.”
The Hong Kong Observatory forecast the typhoon would fizzle out as it moves inland at 20kph.
Despite this, strong gales and heavy rains were still expected in coastal areas of southern China, sparking fears of further landslides, the China News Service said on its website.
Boats ordered back to port
In Xiamen, a popular tourist resort near where Longwang landed, nearly 40 000 fishing boats were ordered back to port, while major highways and the Xiamen International airport were shut down.
Two other smaller airports in the province also faced disruptions, with many tourists cancelling their trips, the Fujian provincial flood-control office said.
But despite high winds and torrential downpours, the Xiamen city flood-control bureau said no injuries or major damage had been reported in the city.
”It arrived in Xiamen last night, but there have been no casualties or damage. The wind has now stopped and there are just intermittent rains,” an official surnamed Chen said. ”Travellers are able to resume their normal activities.”
With the storm also threatening the southern province of Guangdong, authorities there evacuated 61 860 people near coastal areas, on top of the 537 000 moved to safety in Fujian.
But it, too, appears to have escaped the worst, provincial officials said.
East and south-east China are prone to tropical storms and typhoons, two of which caused widespread destruction and killed scores of people last month. — AFP
