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Typhoon Fanapi death toll hits 70

26 September 2010 04:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Flooding and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fanapi have killed 70 people and left at least 65 missing in China’s southern province of Guangdong, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The bodies were recovered after rescue teams were able to enter towns and small townships cut off by mudslides.

Magui township in Maoming city, for example, is still hard to reach as 90 percent of the roads leading into the city are covered by mudslides and bridges are destroyed.

Heavy rainfall together with strong winds forced a total of nearly 99,500 people to be evacuated by 6 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) on Friday to take refuge from the typhoon. More than 42,190 hectares of crops were deluged by torrential rains and 3,765 houses collapsed due to the heavy downpour, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Helicopters were dispatched Friday to deliver relief goods to people in the hardest-hit cities of Gaozhou, Xinyi, and Yangchun. Over 160,000 people have been affected in Gaozhou city, the provincial flood control authorities said.

Meteorologists expect cloudy weather and showers in Guangdong in the coming days but maintain that the intense precipitation which caused the destructive floods in the province has stopped.

Typhoon Fanapi made landfall in China’s southeastern province of Fujian at 7:00 a.m. local time on Monday (2300 GMT on Sunday), but wreaked havoc mostly in neighboring Guangdong province. There were no reports of casualties in Fujian.