The strongest typhoon to hit China in half a century killed more than 100 people, dozens of whom had taken shelter in a house that collapsed, Xinhua news agency said yesterday, and the toll appeared likely to rise.
Typhoon Saomai tore into Cangnan County in Zhejiang Province on Thursday after authorities moved more than 1 million people in the densely populated commercial province to safety.
By noon yesterday, 104 people were confirmed dead and 190 were missing in Zhejiang and neighboring Fujian Province, Xinhua said. Some 54,000 houses were destroyed.
PHOTO: EPA
At least 41 villagers, including eight children, were killed when a house collapsed in the town of Jinxiang, only an hour's drive from where the typhoon made landfall, Xinhua and a local official said.
Most of the victims were neighbors who thought the two-story, concrete structure would be safer than their own wood-and-brick shelters, Xinhua said, adding another two died in a separate house collapse in the town.
"Many people here are taking shelter in schools and factories as their houses have been destroyed," the official in Jinxiang said.
Damage to crops, power lines and infrastructure was evident in Cangnan County.
"Lots of people were hurt here but my family are all okay," said Wu Yelian, an old woman doing a roaring trade in instant noodles and canned drinks to drivers stuck in the heat in a jam on the narrow mountain road outside. "I haven't seen a typhoon this strong in years. Last time we had a bad one, a dam collapsed and many people died."
Power was also cut in five towns close to where Saomai made landfall, Xinhua said.
Along a highway in Cangnan, trees were knocked flat, their branches and tops ripped off. Tiles and even bricks from flimsy farm houses lay strewn about on the ground. Power was cut and fixed telephone lines were knocked down.
Eight Taiwanese sailors were also rescued after two ships capsized on Thursday in a harbor in Fujian, while four Chinese were saved after their ship struck a reef, according to Xinhua.
The typhoon crossed the coast with winds of 216kph -- more powerful than a typhoon that hit Zhejiang in August 1956, killing more than 3,000 people.
Saomai was the eighth storm to hit China this year. Tropical Storm Risk had graded Saomai a maximum Category 5 "super typhoon," but reduced that to Category 4 as it made landfall, the same category as Hurricane Katrina which devastated the US Gulf coast last year.
Much of south China has been battered by typhoons and tropical storms this summer. Nearly 1,000 people have been killed by rainstorms, mudslides, house collapses and floods.
Tropical Storm Bilis killed at least 637 people in China last month and Typhoon Prapiroon killed about 80 last week.
By yesterday morning, Saomai had weakened into a tropical depression and moved inland.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS