At least 38 people have been killed and 10 others have gone
missing since typhoon Dujuan started sweeping across south China's
Guangdong
Province on Tuesday night.
And more than 120 others were injured by the typhoon, the most
serious tropical storm to batter Guangdong Province in 24 years,
according to an official from the Guangdong Provincial Flood
Prevention Headquarters Wednesday.
The direct economic losses caused by the typhoon, the 13th
tropical storm to strike the Chinese coastal area this year have
been calculated at more than 2 billion yuan (US$241 million).
The port cities of Shenzhen, Huizhou, Shanwei and Shantou in
eastern coastal areas of Guangdong Province have been the hardest
hit by the typhoon over the past two days.
In the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone that borders Hong Kong, at
least 20 persons were killed and 98 others injured, including 20
seriously. Two people remain missing in the city.
A factory building which was under construction collapsed,
claiming 16 lives and injuring 20 others in Bao'an District's
Gongming Township in Shenzhen Wednesday.
Another 20 people were injured after the building collapsed,
burying more than 40 workers at the construction site.
Electricity supplies were suspended in many areas of Shenzhen's
Bao'an and Longgang districts, flooding many downtown streets.
More than 6,000 trees were also blown down, causing a heavy
traffic jam in the city's business area.
And more than 3,000 passengers were stranded in Bao'an
International Airport and Shenzhen Railway Station when many air
and railway flights were cancelled or delayed.
In central China's Hubei
Province, torrential rains hit the upper reaches of the
Hanjiang River, causing floods that killed five people while
leaving three others missing.
Widespread heavy rains hit parts of northwest China's Shaanxi
Province and Yunxi County of Hubei Province earlier this week,
causing landslides in several villages that killed three people,
said Gao Xiang, an official at the local flood control
headquarters.
China's Ministry of Finance allocated 20 million yuan (US$ 2.4
million) yesterday to assist the people who had suffered from
flooding in Shaanxi Province.
In Ningshaan County, Shaanxi Province, around 6,000 students at
29 primary and middle schools could not go to school on September 1
at the start of the new school term as the disaster had destroyed
classroom buildings.
Local government departments are making every effort to make
proper schools operation as much as possible, local government
sources said.
From early yesterday morning, rain hit flood-stricken areas once
again in Shaanxi, with the wet weather due to last until September
7.
The latest statistics showed that by September 1, 67 out of
Shaanxi's 108 counties were hit by the disaster with a population
of 4.924 million, and 38 were killed and 34 disappeared in the
flood and landslide.
Since the disaster took place, the Ministry of Civil Affairs had
sent 6,500 tents to Shaanxi and 20 million yuan (US$2.41 million)
of relief funds were also allocated by Ministries of Civil Affairs
and Finance to temporarily house disaster-hit people in Shaanxi
Province.
(China Daily September 4, 2003)