China's death toll from tropical storm Prapiroon rose to 77 on
Sunday, with another two people missing in the southern Guangdong Province and neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region despite the
relocation of more than 660,000 people to safe areas.
The department of civil affairs in Guangxi said on Sunday night
the regional death toll was 26 while two others were still
missing.
About 5.1 million people in Guangxi have been affected by the
disasters triggered by Prapiroon, which has destroyed 9,300 homes
and damaged about 20,000 hectares of cropland.
A flash flood occurred at a private forest farm in Fenghuang
Township of Laibin City at 3:20 AM on Saturday, sweeping away 13
migrant workers who were working on the farm.
The rescuers saved only six of them and found six corpses. One
more migrant worker is still missing.
Three people were killed and one more injured in a landslide
that happened in Luming Village of Hengzhou Township, Hengxian
County at 7:00 AM on Saturday as one side of a civilian house fell,
burying a family of four.
The three killed were all female. And the injured is the only
man in the family.
The Guangdong flood control department said on Sunday evening
that since Prapiroon made landfall between the province's Yangxi
County and Dianbai County at 7:20 PM on Thursday, 51 people had
died in the province.
Nine of the victims died in a tornado triggered by
Prapiroon.
The typhoon has caused damage worth 5.4 billion yuan (US$675
million) in the province.
Prapiroon, which means Rain God in Thai, formed in the South
China Sea and strengthened into a typhoon on Wednesday noon.
It is the sixth typhoon this year and also the third which has
led to huge casualties in China.
The fifth typhoon, Kaemi, in late July claimed 35 lives,
including six at a military barracks in east China's Jiangxi
Province.
The fourth typhoon, Bilis, lashed south and east China and
claimed 612 lives in southern China in mid July.
(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2006)