The heavy rains Typhoon Mindulle dumped on Guangzhou have
brought temporary relief from a heat wave blamed for 41 deaths,
with temperatures falling 4 degrees Celsius to about 34 ℃?
yesterday.
Despite bringing some cool relief, Mindulle was anything but
friendly. So far, the typhoon has killed more than 15 people and
flooded thousands of hectares.
Temperatures in the capital of Guangdong
Province broke five-decade-old records in the three days
leading up to Saturday. In the previous week, the mercury climbed
as high as 39.3 ℃ .
Several people died at work, mostly construction workers working
long hours under the sun, said the Guangzhou 120 Emergency Medical
Rescue Center. The youngest was 20 years old.
The other victims were mainly senior citizens who died of
sunstroke or related diseases at home. The oldest was a 93-year-old
woman.
Liang Zijing, a doctor at the Emergency Department in Guangzhou
No. 1 People’s Hospital, said the heat wave caused many
complications for local senior citizens, who accounted for more
than 80 percent of their emergency cases in the past week.
The Guangzhou 120 Emergency Medical Rescue Center received 107
patients with high fevers and another 100 sunstroke victims in a
three-day period.
More than 520 ambulances were dispatched to help people affected
by the heat wave on July 1 alone. The center usually dispatches
about 200 ambulances a day.
The Guangzhou Observatory issued a warning for six consecutive
days ending Saturday.
Lin Liangxun, of the Guangdong Provincial Observatory, said more
than 20 cities and counties saw record high temperatures last week.
Despite the cooling effects of Typhoon Mindulle, Lin warned the
heat wave would continue in the southern Chinese province in the
next few days.
While Mindulle’s heavy rains were a boon for some, they were not
so welcome in many coastal areas.
Mindulle, the Korean word for dandelion, mainly hit Taiwan and
southeastern mainland provinces, Shanghai, and Zhejiang
and Jiangsu
provinces.
The death toll caused by Mindulle rose to 15, with another eight
injured and nine missing in Taiwan. Since July 1, the typhoon has
uprooted trees, swollen rivers, pushed seawater backward and caused
mudslides in central and southern parts of Taiwan
The storm first struck the mainland in Leqing, Zhejiang
Province, at about 9:30 AM on July 3.
Torrential rains and gales buffeted Huzhou, in Zhejiang
Province. The typhoon damaged 18 ships, drowned one 12-year-old boy
and his mother and left two missing at Taihu Lake in Huzhou, said
local government sources.
Shanghai was also hit, but there were no reports of death or
injuries, said Yao Zuqing, of the Shanghai Meteorological
Bureau.
Yao said city’s Chongming County received the heaviest rainfall
and more than 2,000 hectares of field were flooded.
(China Daily July 5, 2004)