Two killed, one missing after typhoon Sepat lands in E China

14:47' 19/08/2007 (GMT+7)

Photo taken on August 18, 2007 shows the big wave at the Dongtou Island of Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.The Southeast China provinces are girding for the imminent Typhoon Sepat with cancellation of flights, evacuations of ships, boats and more than half a million people. Typhoon Sepat is expected to land with heavy winds and downpours in the coast between Lianjiang and Xiamen of Fujian Province around 7:00 p.m. Saturday.
Two people were killed and one was missing in a landslide triggered by typhoon Sepat which landed in east China's Fujian Province early Sunday morning, said flood control authorities with the province on Sunday.

The three victims were in central Fujian's Minhou County, where torrential rains unleashed by Sepat triggered the landslide and tore down houses. Detailed information is not yet available.

Downpour also hit the Minqing County to the west of Fuzhou, Fujian's capital, where the Daruo train station collapsed, causing derailment of six carriages of a cargo train.

Typhoon Sepat, the ninth for this year that landed in Chongwu town, Hui'an county of Quanzhou City early Sunday morning, lashed the central and northern parts of the province with gale and rainstorm. Rainfall from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday reached 200 millimeters in 11 of Fujian's 95 counties, cities and districts and exceeded 300 millimeters in two regions.

The typhoon damaged 366 houses in Quanzhou, destroyed crops on 5,920 hectares of land, cut off power supply lines on 5.7 kilometers and harmed 139 water control projects, affecting 162,600 people and inflicting an economic loss of 72 million yuan (9.5 million U.S. dollars).

Neighboring Zhejiang Province also saw gales and heavy rains. By 6:a.m. Sunday, a total of 198 houses were toppled down in Wenzhou City with 475,912 people affected, causing an economic loss of 138.35 million yuan (18.2 million U.S. dollars) in the manufacturing city.

As it roars on, Sepat is expected to arrive at Jiangxi Province by Sunday but has weakened to strong tropical storm.

Air traffic has resumed in Fujian, according to sources with the Xiamen Airlines. A total of 179 flights shall be in service on Sunday.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet