China evacuates 181000 due to Soudelor typhoon

Authorities in southeast China ordered the evacuation of about 158,000 people and ships back to port ahead of the typhoon, which was expected to hit Fujian province on Saturday.

Typhoon Soudelor killed six people in Taiwan earlier on the weekend then moved across the Taiwan Strait and slammed into the mainland’s Fujian province late on Saturday.

A typhoon battered China’s east coast on Sunday, killing 14 people and forcing the authorities to evacuate hundreds of thousands more.

Xinhua quoted local disaster relief officials as saying the dead and missing may have been washed away by floods or buried under ruined homes.

A total of 513,900 people in the province were also evacuated after the typhoon destroyed at least 3,000 houses and 57,000 hectares of crops.

Typhoon Soudelor left behind widespread damage when it barreled through Taiwan on Saturday, including an estimated NT$560 million (US$17.7 million) in damage to eight wind turbines operated by Taiwan Power Company (Taipower).

The typhoon collapsed houses and triggered landslides in the country’s Zhejiang province.

Several townships in Wenzhou and Lishui cities have been inundated, with water level rising four metres above the ground in some areas, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. “The storm made landfall in Taiwan at 21:00 UTC on Saturday, August 8, approximately 32 km [51.5 kms] north-northeast of Hualien City, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to mainly the northern third of the island”.

Those killed in Taiwan included a mother and her 8-year-old daughter swept out to sea, Central News Agency reported, adding that the girl’s twin sister is missing.

PAGASA advised people to take precautions against heavy rains, strong winds, lightning and possible flash floods.

Four more people died from Typhoon Soudelor’s wrath in China on Monday. 3 airports in the province were forced to close down temporarily and more than 500 flights were cancelled as fierce winds disrupted public transportation.

“I’ve never seen such thing during a career of more than 30 years”, a postman, who was helping to manage the queue, told AFP.