Typhoon Talim, the 13th this year, is likely to hit Taiwan and
other coastal areas of southeast Chinese provinces from Wednesday,
according to the Fujian
Provincial Observatory on Tuesday.
The observatory raised an urgent typhoon alarm at 2:00 a.m. on
Tuesday. When Talim was about 1,020 km southeast of Taipei, or at
21.2 north latitude and 130.6 east longitude.
The typhoon is moving northwestward at the speed of 20
kilometers per hour and it will bring heavy rainstorms to the
provinces of Fujian and Taiwan, as well as other regions along
China's southeast coastal area, the observatory warned.
Some meteorologists say that Talim might cause as much damage as
Typhoon Haitang did. Haitang ravaged east China's Fujian and Zhejiang
provinces in July.?
According to statistics jointly released by the State Flood
Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Civil
Affairs on Tuesday, at least 1,024 people have been killed so far
and 293 are still missing in floods that inundated many regions
across China this year.
The widespread floods have affected the lives of 150.78 million
people, destroyed over 10 million hectares of farmland and about
900,000 houses in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities across the country, incurring 102.8 billion yuan
(US$12.6 billion) in direct losses, the statistics show.
Heavy rains and floods pounded areas around the Pearl River
Delta, Minjiang River, Liaohe River and the upper reaches of the
Huaihe River. Typhoons Haitang and Matsa also left much damage in
their wake, causing mountain torrents and landslides in many inland
regions after lashing the southeastern coastal provinces.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily and China.org.cn
August 31, 2005)