FUDING, Fujian Province -- Twenty people who were listed
as missing have now been confirmed dead after Typhoon Saomai hit Fuding city of
east China's Fujian Province. The confirmed death toll from the killer typhoon
reached 134 on Sunday.
The streets of Lingxi town in Cangnan county, Zhejiang
province, are still submerged August 12, 2006 after Saomai, the strongest
typhoon in 50 years, landed and brought heavy rains.
[Xinhua] |
At least 163 others are still missing after Saomai, the strongest typhoon in
China in half a century and now a tropical depression, lashed eastern provinces
including Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi.
Fuding was the worst hit in Fujian Province, with 41 people dead. Houses have
been flattened or damaged and many trees have been uprooted.
Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu went to Zhejiang and Fujian provinces on
Saturday and Sunday to inspect the rescue work and visit people who were
traumatized by the disaster.
Hui said the search for the missing must continue and condolence of the
victims' families must be conducted properly.
As of Saturday night, Fuding city reported 1,350 injured in the typhoon, and
suffered economic losses valued at 2.5 billion yuan (312.5 million U.S.
dollars), said Zhao Fangli, deputy head of the general office of the Fuding City
Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
"Almost the entire village was flattened," said a villager from Baisheng
Village which was home to more than 300 households.
Shacheng Township of Fuding city lost more than 1,000 fishing boats to
Saomai, which flattened half of the town's 8,000 households.
East China's Jiangxi Province reported two deaths from the typhoon as of
Saturday.
The provincial meteorological department said the rainfall in two counties in
Jiangxi was over 200 millimeters from Thursday to Friday and in 11 counties it
rained more than 100 millimeters.
The provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said altogether
980,000 people from the cities of Fuzhou, Nanchang, Yichun and Shangrao were
affected by the downpour-triggered disasters.
Saomai destroyed six small reservoirs in Jiangxi and has cost the province
348 million yuan (about 43.5 million U.S. dollars) in economic losses.
Six people in Lishui City in east China's Zhejiang Province were killed in a
landslide that was triggered by torrential rain, said Xiao Jianzhong, vice mayor
of Lishui.
Eighty-one people are dead and 11 are reported missing in Wenzhou, a booming
port city of more than 1 million people which received the brunt of the typhoon.
At least 2.1 million people have been affected and 18,000 houses destroyed in
Zhejiang. The downpour has swamped 56 provincial roads and national highways.
In Zhejiang, the typhoon caused losses of 4.89 billion yuan (611 million U.S.
dollars). The number of people left homeless has not yet been estimated.
Saomai, the eighth typhoon in China this year, slammed into Cangnan County of
Wenzhou City at 5:25 p.m. Thursday. It was downgraded to a tropical depression
by 11 a.m. Friday.