A school student was killed by a falling wall in
Guangzhou on Monday during stormy weather that played havoc in the
southern province of Guangdong
from Sunday, causing heavy financial losses.
The boy was trapped after a wall collapsed in
Shuanggang Village in Baiyun District at 7 PM after it was
dislodged by heavy rain. He died in hospital later that night.
Hail damaged and destroyed property in the
districts of Panyu, Huadu and in Conghua City.
Taiping Township in Conghua received 108
millimeters of rain from midnight to 1 AM on Monday, costing an
estimated 23.8 million yuan (US$2.9 million) in damages.
Huadu’s 50 villages were also hit, an area
including 190 hectares of farmland.
A strong gale in Panyu District started at 4 PM
Monday and lasted 20 minutes, pulling up a 15-meter-long power pole
that hit a farmhouse roof, leaving a big crack in the wall. The
neighborhood roofs were all blown away.
Torrential rain also flooded many roads in the
district on Monday, causing blackouts, road blocks and air flight
delays.
The underground power-supply room of Baiyun
District’s court building was flooded with water at about 8:30 PM
Monday and power was cut to the building.
The bad weather delayed the arrival and departure
of more than 30 flights.
Guangzhou recorded an average of 99.3 millimeters
of rainfall by 8 PM on Monday.
Another building collapse on Tuesday in Yanji, a
city in northeast China's Jilin
Province, killed two people, left two missing and seven others
injured, according to local police.
The accident occurred at 10:55 AM when construction
workers were repairing an old building on Juzi Street.
Rescuers are searching for the two missing workers
buried in the ruins and the cause of the accident is under
investigation.
(Shenzhen Daily, Xinhua News Agency April
27, 2005)