33 dead in Typhoon Fanapi

Thursday, September 23, 2010 » 05:05am

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Typhoon Fanapi, one of the strongest storms to hit China in years, has left 33 dead and 42 missing.

Typhoon Fanapi, one of the strongest storms to hit China in years, has left 33 dead and 42 missing in devastating flooding and landslides in the nation's south, state press said on Wednesday.

Fanapi made landfall on the mainland on Monday, one day after slamming Taiwan with heavy rains, killing two people and leaving more than 100 injured on the island.

All of the mainland deaths occurred in southern China's Guangdong province, which saw its worst rains in a century, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Reports said five of the victims died after a dam burst, while two others were killed when their house collapsed. Of those missing, 25 disappeared in a rain-triggered mudslide, state media said.

Over 78,000 people in Guangdong have been evacuated due to the Storm, which destroyed some 1,400 homes, local authorities said, according to Xinhua.

Initial direct economic losses amounted to two billion yuan ($A315 million) Xinhua said.

Fanapi, which has weakened to a low-pressure system, is moving west at a speed of up to 10 km/h, bringing torrential rains in its wake, meteorologists said.

Parts of Guangdong province received 64 centimetres of rain in 24 hours, Xinhua cited the provincial flood control headquarters as Saying.

At its strongest point, when it hit Taiwan on Sunday, Fanapi was packing winds of up to 220 km/h and dumped up to 100 centimetres of rain in the south of the island.

Industrial and agricultural damage wrought by the typhoon was estimated at around five billion Taiwan dollars ($A165.82 million), according to the government in Taipei.

Just over a year ago, Typhoon Morakot devastated southern Taiwan, leaving more than 700 people dead or missing in one of the island's worst natural disasters.

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2010/09/23/33_dead_in_Typhoon_Fanapi_516756.html