China's first tropical storm of the year hit south China's
Hainan Province last night, triggering torrential rain and injuring
several people.
Typhoon Koni landed in the island province's city of Wanning at
6:40 pm yesterday.
A strong gale of force 9 -- traveling at 20 meters per second --
swept the city in eastern Hainan yesterday with gusts of force 11
winds traveling at 28 meters per second that damaged or uprooted
many trees, local meteorologists told China Daily.
Typhoon Koni is moving in a northwesterly direction and causing
torrential rain and severe storms in other parts of the
province.
One man in the provincial capital Haikou was seriously injured
by a falling pylon uprooted by the storm. The man was still in a
critical condition last night. More people were injured by damaged
trees.
More than a dozen flights were suspended at Meilan International
Airport in Haikou due to the bad weather. Flights to Haikou had to
land in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhanjiang in south China's
Guangdong Province.
All maritime transportation in the province was also
suspended.
The tropical storm is also expected to affect central parts of
Guangdong today, causing torrential rain, according to the China
Central Meteorological Station.
Weather forecasters also predicted more rainfall in the
flood-hit Huaihe River valley and the upper reaches of the
Yangtze.
About 1 million people in east China's Anhui and Jiangsu
provinces have been mobilized to guard against possible
flooding.
Hubei Province in central China is expected to see torrential
rain in the coming days. The local civil affairs bureau has set
aside 16 million yuan (US$1.9 million) and purchased 1,100 tents to
help relieve flood victims.
Other parts of southern China are expected to experience
sizzling weather in the next two days, with the maximum temperature
forecast to hit 40 C in central China's Hunan Province and east
China's Fujian Province, meteorologists said.
Northern China, especially Beijing, has had plenty of thunder
and rain, bringing cool air.
More rainfall is expected in Beijing in the next week or two,
local meteorologists said yesterday.
The period between mid-July and the end of August has
traditionally seen the most rainfall of the year in Beijing, most
of which comes in the form of thundershowers. Observations indicate
that the next month or two will see a lot of rain, meteorologists
said.
Last Saturday witnessed the city's first thundershower since
mid-July. Trees were uprooted, some flights were delayed and some
buildings were damaged.
There was also a minor thunderstorm in the city on Sunday.
People may find their travel plans affected.
(China Daily July 22, 2003)