CHINA / Regional

Kaemi death roll rises to 25
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-27 19:03

Downpour has triggered flood and landslide.

More than 400,000 people have been affected by rainstorms and ensuring natural disasters in Jiangxi. Nearly 10,000 houses collapsed in the province.

Some 30,000 residents besieged by floods have been rescued and another 800 are still under emergency rescue operations by local government officials, armed police and residents in Ganzhou City of Jiangxi.

Power supply of more than 20,000 households was cut off because of mountain torrents which seriously damaged power supply network in Shangyou County, the worst-hit area by rainstorms in Jiangxi.

Heavy rains will continue soaking south and central parts of the province on Friday and clear up on Saturday, according to sources with the provincial meteorological observatory.

In the Fujian Province where Kaemi as a typhoon roared ashore, 1.38 million people have been affected by gale, rainstorm, flood, landslide and mud-rock flows.

It has demolished 116,000 houses, ruined 48,700 hectares of crops, shut 690 industrial and mining enterprises and resulted in a direct economic loss of 1.1 billion yuan (US$145 million). And 643,900 people were evacuated.

Government agencies throughout south and southeast China warned of reservoirs overflowing their banks and causing huge damage.

More than 750,000 people had been evacuated from their homes early in the week as the region prepared for Kaemi.

The region is still reeling from Tropical Storm Bilis, which hit southeastern China on July 14, resulting in nearly 10 days of torrential rains that took the lives of more than 600 people.


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