/ 26 July 2006

Four dead as Typhoon pounds China

Four people were killed when torrential rains from Typhoon Kaemi caused widespread flooding in south-eastern China on Wednesday, as more than 700 000 evacuees remained in shelters.

The typhoon, which hit south-east China’s Fujian province on Tuesday, packing winds of 120kph, was downgraded to a tropical storm on Wednesday morning but still caused widespread chaos.

Two workers in a quarry in the southern province of Hainan were killed and another person was missing following a storm-induced landslide on Tuesday, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Another two people were killed on Wednesday in southern China’s Guangdong province during a “geological disaster” related to the storms, the central government’s flood-relief headquarters said in a statement, without specifying.

Across the south and east of China in areas still reeling from Tropical Storm Bilis, which killed more than 600 people this month, authorities were implementing emergency measures to cope with the relentless rain.

More than 643 000 people were evacuated from Fujian as the typhoon approached, Xinhua said, while another 80 000 were moved from their homes in neighbouring Zhejiang province.

After Kaemi made landfall, the Fujian meteorological bureau issued an emergency order to prepare for flooding and landslides with up to 12cm of rain along the coast.

Warnings of further flooding were also issued in Guangdong and Zhejiang, with authorities expecting heavy rain for the rest of the week. — AFP