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China typhoon death toll rises to 36
Published on Thu, Aug 23, 2007 at 15:25, Updated on Thu, Aug 23, 2007 at 19:36 in World section
Tags: China, Typhoon Sepat , New Delhi
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New Delhi: Typhoon Sepat is sweeping across southern China, killing 36 people and crushing houses and livelihood.
In the south-eastern province of Fujian, eight people were confirmed dead after torrential rain triggered flooding and mudslides, according to an official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Meanwhile, at least 12 have been killed in the eastern province of Zhejiang, where a tornado that spun off from the typhoon ripped through Wenzhou city.
The semi-official China News Service website reported that the death toll in Wenzhou had risen to 14, with more than 60 injured, six of them seriously.
State media had on Sunday put the death toll from Sepat at 15.
A report on the ministry's website said 13 people remained missing, without specifying where they lived.
It said a total of 4.58 million people in Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces have been affected, while authorities have evacuated more than 1 million people.
The storms have destroyed about 141,400 (350,000 acres) hectares of farmland across the three provinces, where over 7,600 houses have fallen and 28,000 others were damaged.
Direct economic losses across the three provinces are estimated at 2.46 billion yuan ($A324 million), the ministry said.
"The impact of the typhoon is tapering off but there will be more disasters yet such as rains, landslides, flows of mud and rocks," said the official.
The China Meteorological Administration said on its website that Sepat had been downgraded to a tropical depression after it entered Fujian late on Sunday.
It has since moved inland to neighbouring Jiangxi province.
The tropical depression will however continue to wreak havoc in southern and central China over the next two days, as more rain is forecast for a number of provinces including Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Hunan, the Meteorological Administration added.
Wide swathes of China have been plagued by near-constant torrential downpours since the summer rainy season began.
Rains brought by tropical storm Pabuk in southern Guangdong province earlier this month affected more than 1 million people and destroyed thousands of houses, state media reports said.
(With agency inputs)
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