Disasters, triggered by tropical storm Fung Wong, have left four people dead in east China's Jiangsu Province, and one dead and four missing in the southern Guangdong Province.
A tornado, caused by the typhoon, hit Linze Town in north Jiangsu at about 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday. A clothing factory in Yangcha village was destroyed, with 18 workshops, covering more than 800 square meters, leveled, said a spokesman of the Yangzhou government.
More than 90 people were injured in the factory, four of whom died later in hospital.
In Baoying County, more than 120 households had their homes damaged and five homes were destroyed. Two people were slightly injured.
The storm also triggered a flash flood in Zijin County, in Heyuan City of Guangdong. Five timber workers were washed away. One was confirmed dead and the four others were still missing, a spokesman of the city government said on Wednesday afternoon.
A total of 3,228 people are surrounded by flood water in the counties of Zijin and Dongyuan, which are still on a severe weather alert.
By Wednesday noon, the city had evacuated 1,513 people. In Zijin, 20 towns suffered blackouts.
Fung Wong, the eighth tropical storm to hit China this year, was downgraded from a typhoon early on Tuesday after making landfall in Fuqing, Fujian Province, late on Monday. It moved intoJiangxi via Qianshan, a county in Jiangxi, at 8:20 p.m. on Tuesday.
The area worst hit by Fung Wong was Fujian. Fujian Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Wednesday said the economic losses of Fung Wong were 1 billion yuan (142 million US dollars).
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2008)