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At least 13 people died in east China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces that had fallen victim to Typhoon Talim.
Local flood-control and disaster-relief workers reported several mudslides in Wencheng in Zhejiang, which had been soaked by more than 260 millimeters of rain in five hours on Thursday night. Floodwaters reached higher than 1 meter in some villages.
"It is the biggest flood in Wencheng in a century," said Wu Changyin, vice-director of the Wencheng Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
Rain-loosened rocks flattened houses in Wencheng County of Wenzhou in Zhejiang, before the residents could escape. Ten people died.
In Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, three people died, and five were injured. An old house in Chengmen Town collapsed under the pounding of the heavy rains, and falling tiles crushed a man and his son to death in the house.
A 2-meter-high construction restraining wall suddenly collapsed on three passers-by, killing one and injuring the other two.
Officials from the Fujian Prevention Flood and Fighting Drought Office estimated 629,000 people were evacuated to safety in the past three days.
The continuing heavy rainfall pushed water levels on the Jiaoxi and Aojiang rivers above warning levels. They were expected to fall again as the rain and wind dissipated.
Even as the weather improved, many cities were still besieged by accumulated floodwater on Friday.
More than 100 people were stranded by the flood in two villages in Xianyou County in Fujian.
(China Daily September 3, 2005)
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