The death toll in typhoon Prapiroon rose to 38, and 14 more
remained missing in south China's Guangdong Province by midday on Saturday,
local sources said.
Prapiroon brought along torrential rains in this southern
Chinese province, with Taishan, Enping, and Yangchun being worst
hit, affecting 3.72 million people and razing 7,000 houses. The
direct economic losses are forecast at 2.4 billion yuan (US$300
million).
Detail of the damages is still under further investigation, said
a spokesman from the Guangdong Provincial Office for Drought, Flood
and Wind Control.
Typhoon Prapiroon made landfall at the coastal area between
Yangxi County and Dianbai County in western Guangdong at 7:20 PM
Thursday. With a speed of 33 meters per second, the wind power
reached 12 degrees on the Beaufort Scale near its eye.
Under the impact of the outer air current caused by typhoon
Prapiroon, a tornado struck areas including Foshan, Shanwei and
Shaoguan in Guangdong on Friday, causing nine deaths in Foshan.
By Friday morning, Prapiroon's wind speed had dropped from
typhoon level to tropical storm after it swirled into the Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, just west of Guangdong, early Thursday
morning and dumped rain in areas it swept through.
The tropical storm attacked Yulin in Guangxi in the front on
Friday, where 100,000 people were forced to evacuate, and the
damages were placed at 40 million yuan (about US$5 million), said
information from the Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters
of Yulin City.
Prapiroon, which means Rain God in Thai, formed in the South
China Sea and strengthened into a typhoon on Wednesday noon.
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2006)
