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China evacuates 100,000 ahead of typhoon
James Pomfret , Reuters
Published: Wednesday, September 24, 2008
HONG KONG - China evacuated more than 100,000 people from southern coastal areas before a typhoon ploughed ashore Wednesday after killing at least eight people in the Philippines.
Typhoon Hagupit whipped past Hong Kong overnight, uprooting trees and causing flash floods in low-lying areas including Lantau island, where the city's airport is located, with dozens of people injured across the territory.
China's Meteorological Administration issued an "urgent red alert", its highest-level warning, as the storm made landfall in the morning, downgrading the storm from Category 4 to 3 once it made landfall.
More than 50,000 ships had been called back to port and authorities in Guangdong province, the manufacturing hub of China, evacuated tens of thousands of people from the area, Xinhua news said.
Torrential rain and more flooding was forecast. Hagupit would also hit Guangxi, to the west of Guangdong, and the tropical resort island of Hainan, authorities said.
Hong Kong flights were disrupted Tuesday night stranding scores of passengers in the airport.
The Hong Kong Observatory lowered its No. 8 gale or storm signa, clearing the way for the opening of financial markets and most businesses on Wednesday.
Schools however will be shut.
At least 14 miners remained trapped in a gold mine in the north of the Philippines after rainwater flooded a shaft.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council said four people drowned, three were buried by landslides and one was electrocuted when the storm lashed the country's northern region. Some areas were isolated due to floods and landslides.
Several towns in the Philippines remained without power and telephone service.
In Vietnam, the government said Hagupit would bring heavy rains Wednesday night that could herald flash floods and landslides in northern coastal and mountainous provinces, including Quang Ninh, the country's main coal producing area.
As of late Tuesday, more than 30,000 Vietnamese fishermen were still working offshore in the area that may be affected by the storm, the border army force reported.
Tropical storms in the region gather intensity from the warm ocean waters and frequently develop into typhoons that hit Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and southern China during a season that lasts from early summer to late autumn.
In China's quake-hit province of Sichuan, 14 people have gone missing in landslides triggered by heavy rain, Xinhua quoted a local official as saying.
Heavy rain, not related to the typhoon, also hit the Tangjiashan area, blocking the sluice of the dangerous "quake lake", formed by mudslides blocking valleys, and raising its water level by five metres.
The area was the worst hit in the May 12 quake in which more than 80,000 people died.
James Pomfret , Reuters
Published: Wednesday, September 24, 2008
HONG KONG - China evacuated more than 100,000 people from southern coastal areas before a typhoon ploughed ashore Wednesday after killing at least eight people in the Philippines.
Typhoon Hagupit whipped past Hong Kong overnight, uprooting trees and causing flash floods in low-lying areas including Lantau island, where the city's airport is located, with dozens of people injured across the territory.
China's Meteorological Administration issued an "urgent red alert", its highest-level warning, as the storm made landfall in the morning, downgrading the storm from Category 4 to 3 once it made landfall.
More than 50,000 ships had been called back to port and authorities in Guangdong province, the manufacturing hub of China, evacuated tens of thousands of people from the area, Xinhua news said.
Torrential rain and more flooding was forecast. Hagupit would also hit Guangxi, to the west of Guangdong, and the tropical resort island of Hainan, authorities said.
Hong Kong flights were disrupted Tuesday night stranding scores of passengers in the airport.
The Hong Kong Observatory lowered its No. 8 gale or storm signa, clearing the way for the opening of financial markets and most businesses on Wednesday.
Schools however will be shut.
At least 14 miners remained trapped in a gold mine in the north of the Philippines after rainwater flooded a shaft.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council said four people drowned, three were buried by landslides and one was electrocuted when the storm lashed the country's northern region. Some areas were isolated due to floods and landslides.
Several towns in the Philippines remained without power and telephone service.
In Vietnam, the government said Hagupit would bring heavy rains Wednesday night that could herald flash floods and landslides in northern coastal and mountainous provinces, including Quang Ninh, the country's main coal producing area.
As of late Tuesday, more than 30,000 Vietnamese fishermen were still working offshore in the area that may be affected by the storm, the border army force reported.
Tropical storms in the region gather intensity from the warm ocean waters and frequently develop into typhoons that hit Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and southern China during a season that lasts from early summer to late autumn.
In China's quake-hit province of Sichuan, 14 people have gone missing in landslides triggered by heavy rain, Xinhua quoted a local official as saying.
Heavy rain, not related to the typhoon, also hit the Tangjiashan area, blocking the sluice of the dangerous "quake lake", formed by mudslides blocking valleys, and raising its water level by five metres.
The area was the worst hit in the May 12 quake in which more than 80,000 people died.
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