Twenty-nine people have died and 14 are missing after Typhoon
Sepat left a trail of destruction in east China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, local flood control
headquarters reported yesterday.
The latest casualty is from Yongfeng County in Jiangxi Province,
where Sepat hit at 2:30 AM yesterday.
Sepat landed in Fujian at 2am on Sunday, spawning rainstorms
that continued yesterday. The ninth typhoon of the year brought an
average 200 millimeters of rainfall to most counties in the
province since Friday. Jiaocheng, the worst-hit county, received
490 millimeters of rain.
But it left a trail of chaos including landslides that killed 15
people and left 11 missing in Fujian as of late yesterday.
Sepat also caused 13 deaths and left three missing in Wenzhou,
Zhejiang, including 11 deaths from a tornado that smashed 156
houses on Saturday.
On Sunday, a landslide triggered by the downpours hit a minibus
in Wenzhou, killing one of its 19 passengers. One woman was found
dead in the debris of her house the same day.
More than 200 cities and counties across Jiangxi are suffering
torrential rain and high winds. By 8pm, the worst-hit county of
Yongfeng had received 399mm of rain.
The typhoon has affected 150,000 people, destroyed 1,016 houses
and caused an economic loss of 134 million yuan (US$17.9 million)
in the province.
The local meteorological bureau predicts Sepat will linger in
the province for another 48 hours.
(Xinhua News Agency?August 21, 2007)
