Typhoon Imbudo killed at least four people and injured 16 others
when it struck south China's Guangdong
Province yesterday.
Imbudo first slammed into the cities of Zhanjiang and Maoming on
the western coast of Guangdong at about 10 am yesterday.
The Guangdong Provincial Flood-Control Headquarters said Imbudo
had destroyed many coastal dykes and reservoirs on the Leizhou
Peninsula.
Many cities and counties in western coastal Guangdong were
flooded. Scores of houses were destroyed or damaged, and
electricity and water supplies were cut in some flood-hit
areas.
More than 1 million people were affected by Imbudo, the seventh
typhoon to hit Chinese coastal areas this year.
Twenty-two people aboard a ferry en route from Hong Kong to
Macao were injured yesterday afternoon as the boat wallowed through
the rough sea affected by Imbudo. All of the injured were adults,
18 passengers and four crew members.
In Chuanbu town in the city of Luoding, at least three people
were killed while 12 others were injured in the storm.
Many houses in Luoding were destroyed or damaged by the tornado.
The storms killed numerous sheep, ducks, chickens and cattle in the
city.
In the city of Lianjiang, more than 6,000 chickens on a local
farm were killed when the chicken shacks collapsed due to the
storms and heavy rain.
At least 50 families were made homeless after their houses were
destroyed and collapsed in Lianjiang.
One person was killed in Enping, a coastal city in western
Guangdong.
The coastal cities of Maoming, Yangjiang and Zhanjiang were
hardest-hit by Imbudo.
Many trees and advertising hoardings in the centers of these
cities were blown down by the strong winds accompanying Imbudo.
Many crops and water-conservation facilities in the three cities
were damaged.
Local governments were last night still counting the number of
casualties, as well as the economic losses.
The ferry services between Guangzhou and Hong Kong and between
Zhuhai and Hong Kong were suspended yesterday.
The Guangdong provincial government yesterday sent two relief
teams to the typhoon-hit areas to help local victims rebuild their
homes and restore production as soon as possible.
Guangdong Communist Party Secretary Zhang Dejiang and Governor
Huang Huahua urged local governments to do what they can to help
rescue flood victims, try to reduce the number of deaths and
injuries and minimize the economic losses.
Most cities and counties in the west of the Pearl River Delta
experienced rainfall of more than 120 millimeters yesterday.
Guangdong's provincial capital Guangzhou was hit by heavy rain
yesterday, as were the Shenzhen and Zhuhai special economic zones
that border Hong Kong and Macao.
The Dongshan, Liuhua, Liwan and Luhu artificial lakes in central
Guangzhou had to release flood water yesterday.
All the kindergartens in Guangzhou were told to suspend classes
yesterday.
But the heavy rainfall did help ease the drought that the region
had experienced and cool down the heatwave.
(China Daily July 25, 2003)