The death toll in China from Tropical Storm Bilis has risen to 198, official media said on Tuesday, as 140 people remained missing and heavy rain continued to pound the south of the country.
The storm, which claimed the lives of dozens of people in the Philippines and Taiwan, has killed at least 198 people in China after striking the mainland on Friday, the official Xinhua news agency said.
There are grave fears for another 140 people whom the Ministry of Civil Affairs says are still unaccounted for.
The death toll increased after 10 more people died in the southern province of Guangxi, where the storm was sited on Tuesday after it brought heavy rain and flooding to southern, eastern and central provinces since Friday.
Forecasters had expected the storm to weaken as it hit mainland China but instead it brought more death and destruction, as well as paralysing transport and communications infrastructure in six southern and central provinces.
More than 20-million people in China have been affected with about 2,2-million people evacuated from dangerous locations and economic losses reaching 11,8-billion yuan ($1,5-billion), the ministry said.
A total of 910 000ha of crops had been flooded, with 160 000ha completely destroyed, it said.
About 113 000 homes collapsed while 175 000 were damaged, it said.
The Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has earmarked 65-million yuan of emergency relief aid for badly hit areas, the China Daily said on Tuesday.
Local governments delivered quilts, instant noodles and tents to displaced victims as the storm weakened and moved west but continued to dump heavy rain across vast swathes of southern and central China.
The worst affected province is central China’s Hunan, where at least 92 people have died and more than 100 are still missing, Xinhua said.
Major operations were carried out to help thousands of people stranded.
In one of the more extraordinary operations, 1 663 inmates and 220 guards at a jail in the southern province of Guangdong were rescued after being trapped by floodwaters for 30 hours, the Southern Metropolitan Daily said on Tuesday.
Helicopters had initially dropped food and supplies to Pingshi Prison in Shaoguan city, with 200 paramilitary and police then dispatched to the site to escort the prisoners out of the flooded compound.
Altogether 2,1 tonnes of food, drinkable water and medicine were air-dropped in Shaoguan to the prison as well as a railway tunnel construction site where 1 200 workers were building a railway line near a mountain, said Xinhua.
The two helicopters used for the mission also flew 21 people from the flood-stricken area to safety — 16 children, four pregnant women and one injured woman.
Urban areas in Shaoguan, which is one of the worst hit areas in the storm, were completely flooded with widespread power and water supply failures, Xinhua said.
Also in Guangdong, more than 8 800 passengers stranded for 40 hours on five trains stuck in flooded sections of the Beijing-Guangdong railway were rescued Monday, said Xinhua.
The water level had risen to over a metre above the tracks and more than 10 000 workers were dispatched to repair the tracks.
The tracks reopened on Tuesday, the China Central Television station said.
Local meteorologists have forecast more rain for Guangdong and Hunan provinces in the next two days, reports said. – AFP
