Powerful typhoon pounds China

2005-09-26 09:59

Beijing - Typhoon Damrey pounded China's southern province of Hainan on Monday, knocking out power and reportedly leaving at least two dead in what officials called the strongest storm to hit the island in years.

Packing winds up to 180km an hour, Damrey hit landfall in the early hours on Monday after authorities had ordered the evacuation of thousands of people in hopes of avoiding a catastrophe.

"We are expecting a disaster but we have to minimise it," said Zhou, an official at Hainan's anti-flood headquarters.

Two fatalities

Officials in Vietnam meanwhile said 100 000 people were being evacuated there, with the storm expected to hit a dozen Vietnamese provinces.

In the Hainan city of Wenchang, more than 130mm of rain had fallen since the morning, a meteorological official said, with the torrent expected to last all day.

All electricity in the city had been cut, while at least two fatalities had been recorded by mid-morning, other officials said.

Winds were measured as high as force 16, or some 55m per second, at landfall, but had fallen to force 11 after hitting Wenchang, which lies on the westernmost tip of the island.

The storm was expected to hover over Hainan until the evening as it headed westward over the Gulf of Tonkin toward Vietnam and neighbouring Guangxi province, said meteorological officials.

Flights cancelled

Thousands of people were evacuated from coastal villages on Hainan and in southern Guangdong province, where a 3m-high tide flooded a village in Xuwen county.

Sixty-seven flights were cancelled at Hainan's Milan International Airport, leaving some 5 000 passengers stranded on Sunday, Xinhua news agency cited airport officials as saying.

Airport officials said only two planes had taken off on Monday morning and up to 166 flights would be re-routed or delayed throughout the day.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had earlier ordered officials in southern China to brace for Damrey and ensure that emergency measures were in place.

"We must closely monitor the movements of the typhoon and make full preparations for the safety of reservoirs, step up work on protecting against landslides and flooding in mountainous regions and encourage sea vessels to return to ports," Wen was quoted as saying.

Harvests at risk

Experts have warned that the storm might bring huge losses to rice, rubber and bananas harvests, Xinhua said.

East and southeast China are prone to tropical storms and typhoons, two of which caused widespread destruction and killed scores of people this month.

Typhoon Talim left at least 124 dead and 31 missing, with some 19 million residents affected and 1.8 million evacuated.

Last week Typhoon Khanun struck the same area of eastern China, killing at least 14 people, with nine missing. A total of 5.5 million residents were affected, with more than 1.3 million evacuated.

- AFP