South China's Guangdong Province yesterday issued a warning about summer storms in response to a disastrous squall that hit the city of Yunfu and killed five people on Tuesday.
Issued by the Guangdong Meteorological Information Center (GMIC), the warning said heavy storms are likely to attack the coastal province repeatedly over the next two months, including one this coming weekend.
According to a GMIC spokesman, the province is taking steps to prevent destruction and casualties as much as possible.
In the raging three-hour storm that slammed Yunfu, five were reported dead, 10 missing and three injured. The victims were either buried in landslides or swamped by floods, according to the local authorities.
Rescuers estimated that 961 houses were destroyed, leaving 682 people homeless and 35,000 coping with damage. The flood washed away sections of nine roads totalling 18 kilometers and 15 bridges. Direct economic losses in the 17,000-square-metre flood zone have been estimated at more than 120 million yuan (US$15 million).
In the Tongmen Town section of Yunfu, the area most damaged by the storm, floods buried everything in 2.5-metre deep water and leveled most brick buildings overnight.
Rescue efforts are still going on as teams continue to search for the missing and others construct shelters for the homeless.
Yunfu, located 160 kilometers southwest of capital Guangzhou, has now suffered Mother Nature's wrath twice since April.
On April 4, a combination of hail, rain and tornadoes blew through the town, injuring 122 people, displacing 97,400 and ruining 1,800 hectares of farmland.
Flood- and typhoon-prone Guangdong Province lost about 80 lives and suffered 15 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) in economic losses due to natural disasters last year.
The early arrival of the storm season this year has prompted worries among provincial leaders.
Although there is no accurate death count yet, the continuous heavy rains during the past two months have left a trail of devastation around the province.
In the northern cities, including Qingyuan and Shaoguan, storms have already killed at least 13 people.
In Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, cities that enjoy better storm protection facilities, typhoons have delayed over a hundred commercial flights at major airports.
(China Daily 06/08/2001)
