China evacuates as storm strikes - 1 m evacuated

[AlaskaDenise]

Nearly one-million people have been evacuated from the coastal regions of China as Typhoon Morakot blew in.

Winds of up 119km/h (74mph) destroyed houses and flooded farmland, a small boy died when a building collapsed, before it weakened to a tropical storm.

In Taiwan, where the typhoon hit on Sunday, 12 people are confirmed dead.

Meanwhile, in Japan nine people are reported dead in floods and landslides after Typhoon Etau brought heavy rain to the west of the country.

Eight people died in Hyogo prefecture, including one man whose car was swept away by a swollen river, and another died in neighbouring Okayama prefecture.

Another 10 people are missing.

'Treetops visible'

Chinese state media said that the sky turned completely dark in Beibi, Fujian, when Typhoon Morakot made landfall on Sunday morning.

Trees were uprooted as high winds and heavy rain lashed the coast, and more than 2,000 houses are reported to have collapsed.

Some 473,000 residents of Zhejiang province were evacuated before the typhoon struck, as well as 480,000 from Fujian, Xinhua news agency said.

In Zhejiang's Wenzhou City a four year-old child was killed when a house collapsed. Dozens of roads were said to be flooded and the city's airport was closed.

Rescuers used dinghies to reach worst-hit areas; in one area only the tops of trees were said to be showing above the floodwater.

Taiwan devastation

Earlier, Morakot dumped 250cm of rain on Taiwan as it crossed the island, washing away bridges and roads.

At least 12 people died and 52 are missing in some of the worst flooding for 50 years, among them a group reportedly washed away from a make-shift shelter in Kaohsiung in the south.

In one incident, an entire hotel - empty at the time - was swept away by the waters.

At least 10,000 people were trapped in three coastal towns, a local official in the southern county of Pingtung said.

In Chihpen, one of Taiwan's most famous hot spring resorts, a hotel collapsed after flood waters undermined its foundations.

Morakot - which means emerald in Thai - has also contributed to heavy rains in the Philippines. At least 10 people were killed in flooding and landslides in the north.

Typhoons are frequent in the region between July and September.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8192633.stm

Published: 2009/08/10 04:06:53 GMT

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: China evacuates as storm strikes - 1 m evacuated

Shanghai braces for rain after typhoon hits coast
(AFP) ? 58 minutes ago

SHANGHAI ? Shanghai braced for torrential rain Monday after Typhoon Morakot slammed China's southeast coast, prompting the evacuation of nearly a million people and leaving one dead, officials said.

The typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm as it approached Shanghai but was still forecast to bring rain of up to 90 millimetres (3.5 inches) an hour to China's largest city and the eastern provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui, the National Meteorological Centre said.

The tropical storm's intensity was weakening after leaving a child dead in the city of Wenzhou on Sunday and at least 12 dead in Taiwan, where it caused the worst flooding in 50 years.

The storm's centre hit the border of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces at five am Monday (2100 GMT Sunday), lashing cities in the area with 83 kilometre (51 mile) per hour winds, Shanghai's meteorological bureau said.

More than 3.4 million people in Zhejiang suffered property losses as hundreds of villages were flooded and more than 1,800 houses collapsed, Xinhua said, citing the Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

In Cangnan, one of 20 flooded counties in Zhejiang, vehicles left parked on main roads were submerged in a meter of water, according to Xinhua.

The powerful storm left tens of thousands trapped after floods and mudslides in Taiwan, before landing in China's Fujian province at 4:20 pm (0820 GMT) on Sunday.

A four-year-old child died in Wenzhou after his family's house collapsed in heavy rains and winds before the typhoon even made landfall in mainland China, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

The child was buried along with four adults in debris and died after emergency treatment failed, Xinhua said, citing the city's flood-control headquarters.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h7XzB_AhbNn4vjVbFbuTxbWGqR_g

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: China evacuates as storm strikes - 1 m evacuated

Typhoon Pummels China and Taiwan

By MICHAEL WINES
BEIJING ? Rain deluged China?s east coast on Monday hours after Typhoon Morakot slammed into the region south of Shanghai, packing winds up to 111 miles an hour, destroying hundreds of homes and forcing one million people to flee.

Typhoon Morakot and another one in Japan were reported to have killed 13 people, although Chinese officials reported only one death.

In China, a 4-year-old child was reported dead in Wenzhou, a city of nearly 1.4 million in Zhejiang Province, where officials said the storm had leveled nearly 1,500 homes. The child was among five people buried when the winds collapsed five adjacent houses.

By Monday morning, the weakened storm was churning over Wenzhou, where skies had cleared but heavy rain was predicted later. ?I?m living in the center of town, which is not so bad,? one Wenzhou woman, Yang Weiwei, said in a telephone interview. ?However, some parts of the city are in a mess.?

On Sunday, the authorities said the storm had whipped up waves as high at 26 feet in the East China Sea and in the strait between mainland China and Taiwan, which was battered by the typhoon on Saturday.

Taiwan?s Central Weather Bureau said the downpours broke records across the island for the most rainfall in 24 hours. The flooding was said to be the worst in a half-century.

Three people were killed and 31 were missing and feared dead, Taiwan?s Disaster Relief Center told The Associated Press on Sunday. Sixteen of the missing were from one family living in a makeshift house in Kaohsiung, in the island?s south, that was swept away by the waters.

Taiwan was swamped by a staggering 83 inches of rain, according to the Central Weather Bureau. In southeastern Taitung County, a six-story hotel collapsed into a river, but officials said all 300 guests were safe because the building had been evacuated.

More than 170,000 people remained without power on Monday, the government said.

In Japan on Monday, at least nine people were killed and nine others were missing after Typhoon Etau slammed the western part of the country, bringing heavy rain that triggered floods and landslides, The A.P. reported. On Sunday evening, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 rattled Tokyo and eastern Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Typhoon Morakot, the eighth of the season, hit the Chinese mainland at 4:20 p.m. on Sunday at Xiapu County, in northern Fujian Province. China?s state-run Xinhua news service said more than 490,000 people had been moved to safety in Fujian, and 48,000 boats summoned back to harbor.

In Zhejiang Province, between Fujian and Shanghai, 505,000 others were evacuated and 35,000 boats called in.

Both provinces are manufacturing centers with large port cities. Shanghai, just north of the typhoon?s landfall, was spared the worst winds but canceled airline flights and lowered river reservoirs to prepare for flooding. Trees were uprooted and some snapped apart in Fujian Province, Xinhua reported, and farmers struggled with nets to recapture fish flushed out of fish farms.

Xinhua said relief teams were distributing food and water to rural villagers who had been stranded by high waters. By Sunday night, meteorologists reported that the typhoon had degraded close to tropical storm status, with 74-mile-an-hour winds.

Morakot, which means emerald in Thai, had struck the Philippines earlier, killing 21 people, including a French tourist and 2 Belgian tourists, according to officials there. Seven others were reported missing.

The government reported that more than 83,000 Philippines residents were affected by floodwaters and landslides, and 22,000 had been evacuated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/world/asia/11china.html

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