Typhoon batters China, 1.24 million evacuated
Sat Aug 6, 2005 5:04 AM ETBEIJING (Reuters) - Typhoon Matsa battered China's eastern coast with strong winds and heavy rain on Saturday morning, killing one and forcing more than a million people from their homes, state media reported.The domestic airport in the country's financial hub, Shanghai, was shut and most international departures were canceled. Debris and small floods clogged streets after downpours in the night.
A shed on one of the city's many construction sites collapsed in the rain, killing one person and injuring two, the official Xinhua agency reported.
Matsa made landfall before dawn in coastal Zhejiang province, where officials had evacuated over 1.24 million people. It was heading northwest, threatening the scenic provincial capital of Hangzhou.
Officials there said the storm could wreak more havoc than last year's Typhoon Rananim, which killed 164 and caused an estimated 18 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) in damage, the China Daily said.
Safe harbours have been arranged for 41,000 ships and regional authorities have been urged to lower water levels behind rain-swollen dams to try to avoid flooding.
Some coastal bus services have been suspended and Hangzhou bay residents told to keep away from the river in case of tidal waves. Ningbo port, the country's second largest in terms of handling capacity, was closed on Friday, the newspaper added.
In Taiwan, Matsa shut down schools, government offices and financial markets in the capital, Taipei, and caused flooding and mudslides in rural areas.
In July, Typhoon Haitang killed 12 people in Taiwan, where three people are still missing, and forced the evacuation of a million Chinese residents.
No casualties have been reported from Matsa, but initial farm damage in Taiwan was estimated at T$36 million (US$1.1 million), while over 50,000 households were left without electricity and 100,000 families had no tap water, the National Fire Agency said.
It packed maximum sustained winds of 144 km (89 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 180 km (112 miles) per hour.
Typhoons gather strength from warm sea water and tend to dissipate after making landfall. They frequently hit Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and southern China during a typhoon season that lasts from early summer to late autumn.
posted by ... @ 10:17 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home