Sepat lashes China coast, 15 dead, 900,000 moved
Updated: 2007-08-19 20:58
Before its landfall, Sepat caused a tornado that smashed buildings and killed 11 people in Cangnan Town of Wenzhou on Saturday night.
In Fujian Province where the typhoon slammed on land, two people were killed and one was missing in a landslide triggered by Sepat.
The two women, 50-year-old Lin Xiulan and 70-year-old Chen Hongmei, died in Yanping Village of Minhou County, and their neighbor 42-year-old Li Weiwen is missing. They were among the evacuated, but they returned to their houses for cleanup, and met the mishap.
Typhoon Sepat landed in Chongwu Town, Hui'an County of Quanzhou City early Sunday morning, lashed the central and north parts of Fujian with gale and rainstorm. Rainfall from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday reached 200 millimeters in 11 of Fujian's 95 counties, cities and districts and exceeded 300 millimeters in two regions.
The typhoon damaged 3,200 houses in Fujian, inundated 56,460 hectares of crops, shut down 525 mines and industries, and cut off 24 roads, 10 km of communication lines and 63.9 km of power supply lines, affecting 1.58 million people and inflicting an economic loss of 1.1 billion yuan (US$144.7 million).
The typhoon also caused severe damages in Zhejiang, ruining 19,700 hectares of crops, wrecking 28.7 km of power supply lines and 22.1 km of dams, affecting 616,000 people across the province and resulting in a direct economic loss of 250 million yuan (US$32.9 million).
As it roars on, Sepat is expected to arrive at Jiangxi Province by Sunday but has weakened to strong tropical storm.
As Sepat is expected to unleash winds of 50 to 75 kilometers per hour in Jiangxi, more than 30,000 fishing boats with 100,000 fishermen in Poyang Lake have found shelter in harbors.
According to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters, the tropical storm would linger in Jiangxi for about 48 hours. Local governments have been urged to be alert to ensuing floods and landslides.
In Central China's Hunan Province, mines have been ordered to suspend operation in the next three days as Sepat draws near. Local governments are evacuating people in low-lying regions and have all the reservoirs monitored around the clock.
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