Typhoon Bilis caused the death of 51 people this weekend, Xinhua News Agency
reported yesterday.
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gaggle of geese swim past a house, along a flooded street in southern
Pintung County of Taiwan, after Tropical Storm Bilis brought torrential
rains across the island July 14, 2006. [Reuters] |
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Among the
victims, 39 were found in Central China's Hunan Province, nine in South China's
Guangdong Province and three in Taiwan Province.
In Hunan, some 100 people are still missing and about 350 people have been
injured. Rescuers have evacuated 52,000 people, but nearly 5,000 others are
still stranded.
The whole city has been affected, and some 30,000 residents have been
stranded.
At least 2.3 million people in Hunan have been affected by rainstorms and
floods. About 31,400 houses were destroyed and 36,630 hectares of farmland
ruined, official figures showed.
The death toll in South China's Guangdong Province has risen to nine with 13
others missing, as Typhoon Bilis caused downpours and landslides in the
southeast part of the province.
At least 6,500 people have been evacuated to safe places, while another
12,000 are still trapped. The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was cut off by floods.
Local meteorological departments warned more heavy rains would hit Guangdong
in the coming days.
After Bilis landed in East China's Fujian Province on Friday, it affected
more than 2.4 million people and brought direct economic losses in the province
of 450 million yuan (US$56 million).
As the typhoon arrived in Zhejiang Province in East China, more than 1.7
million residents had to be evacuated, resulting in direct economic losses of
690 million yuan (US$86 million).
In the first half of the year, more than 19 million people were influenced by
inundations which killed 59 and led to a direct economic loss of 13.1 billion
yuan (US$1.6 billion), figures from the Ministry of Water Resources showed.
Meanwhile, Bilis has left three people dead and two others injured after
pounding Taiwan, according to media reports in Taipei.
The typhoon has caused some 97.54 million new Taiwan dollars (US$3 million)
worth of direct damage to the province's
agriculture.
