Typhoon Haikui has forced the temporary evacuation of 294,000 people in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, where it has caused serious material and agricultural damage, local media reported Thursday.
According to the provincial authorities, cited by the state agency Xinhua, The typhoon has affected almost 1.6 million people in the province.a, with 38 million inhabitants and with an area similar to that of Honduras, since it made landfall on Tuesday.
Almost 10,000 hectares of crops have been damaged and more than 2,500 houses have been destroyed or damaged, which has meant a direct economic loss of 5,050 million yuan (689 million dollars, 643 million euros).
Between Tuesday and Wednesday, rainfall in 65 towns exceeded 250mm, with a maximum of 548.9mm in Gaishan town, surpassing the local record set by Typhoon Longwang in 2005.
Nearly 60,000 people had been mobilized to participate in emergency tasks until 20:00 local time on Wednesday (12:00 GMT).
Huang Zhigang, an expert quoted by the agency, said more torrential rains are expected in the next two days in some areas of Fujian that may trigger landslides, river floods and other disasters.
Local authorities already reported this Wednesday that 49 reservoirs, among the 420 in the municipality of Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, had exceeded the volume limits, and that more than 80 places in the urban center suffered severe flooding, with accumulations of water up to 1.4 meters in the ground.
According to recently released statistics from China’s Ministry of Emergency Management, 8.8 million people were affected in the country by natural disasters in August, including 168 people who died or went missing and 547,000 who were relocated.
EFE
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