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Typhoon Sepat hits China after mass evacuation
2007-08-18
Typhoon Sepat hammered into southeastern China early Sunday after officials had relocated nearly a million people to safer areas, state media reported. Sepat landed in Fujian province at 2:00 am (1800 GMT Saturday) packing winds of 119 kilometres (74 miles) per hour, Xinhua news agency said. The storm had pounded Taiwan on Saturday with torrential rain, powerful winds and mudslides. The typhoon brought heavy downpours to Fujian's Hui'an county, damaging some buildings, lifting roofs off houses and uprooting both trees and billboards, Xinhua said, citing a local flood control official. More damage was expected in the county, the official said, as weathermen reported heavy rain in a number of cities in Fujian. More than 900,000 people in southern and eastern Chinese provinces had earlier been relocated, including some 540,000 people in Fujian, Xinhua said, citing government officials. In Zhejiang Province, nearly 300,000 people had been evacuated to safety and 27,704 vessels called back to harbor. In Guangdong, around 70,000 people, including fishermen and residents in low-lying areas, had been evacuated. Chinese meteorologists have issued the highest-level warnings for Sepat, which was moving northwest at a speed of 15 to 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) per hour and was expected to hit Jiangxi province Sunday afternoon. Expressways in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, were closed, while 109 domestic and international flights at the city's airport were cancelled on Saturday. Xiamen and Jinjiang cities also cancelled outbound flights, Xinhua said. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has sent 3,000 tents to evacuated people in Fujian. In Taiwan, four people suffered minor injuries in Taipei after the typhoon blew people off their motorcycles, the National Fire Agency said, adding one man was wounded by falling rocks. The storm disrupted power supply to more than 241,000 households, interrupted transport links and is estimated to have caused damage of at least 12.7 million dollars in Taiwan, officials said. Wide swathes of China have been plagued by near-constant torrential downpours since the summer rainy season began. Rains brought by tropical storm Pabuk in south China's Guangdong province earlier in August affected more than one million people and destroyed thousands of houses, Xinhua has said. According to the latest government figures, extreme weather killed 712 people and left 163 missing across China in July alone.
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