Powerful typhoon forces evacuations in
China
Published on Jul 14, 2013
10:03 AM
In this photo taken on Friday July 12 2013 fishing boats dock in Jiaoshan fishing port as Typhoon Soulik approaches in
Wenling city in eastern China's Zhejiang province on. Typhoon Soulik surged across northern Taiwan on Saturday, killing at
least one person before moving to southeast China and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from a
coastal province. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
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BEIJING (AP) - A powerful typhoon has surged into southeast China, forcing the evacuation of hundreds
of thousands of people from a coastal province after passing across northern Taiwan, killing at least two
people.
Typhoon Soulik disrupted transportation and commerce across Taiwan, with emergency crews around
Taipei struggling to restore power to the 520,000 homes and remove hundreds of trees uprooted by the
storm from streets and roads.
The storm then hit the Chinese province of Fujian on Saturday afternoon, packing winds of 119 kilometers
per hour, according to China's National Meteorological Center, down from the 163 kph winds it carried
across Taiwan.
About 300,000 people in Fujian were evacuated from their homes, the official Xinhua News Agency
reported.
In Fujian and Zhejiang, another coastal province, train services were suspended, flights canceled and
fishing boats called back to ports. China's weather service warned of possible floods and landslides.
Earlier, torrential rains buffeted large areas of northern and central Taiwan, with schools and businesses
throughout northern Taiwan were closed by government order on Friday.
A falling brick killed a 50-year-old policeman in the Taipei suburb of Tanshui, while in Miaoli, a 54-yearold women died after falling from her roof. One man in the central city of Taichung was listed as missing
after being swept into a raging river.
Throughout Taiwan, the National Fire Agency reported there were at least 104 injuries.
China forecasts heavy rain from Typhoon
Soulik
Published on Jul 14, 2013
1:13 PM
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BEIJING (AFP) - Typhoon Soulik was set to dump up to 18 centimetres of rain on eastern parts of China
in just 24 hours, forecasters said on Sunday, a day after the storm killed two when it battered Taiwan.
The typhoon was downgraded to a tropical depression at 5am as it swept inland, and "its strength will
continue to weaken", the China Meteorological Administration said on its website.
It set the typhoon warning at blue, the lowest of four levels, after windspeeds dropped from 118 kilometres
per hour when it first struck the coast of Fujian, to 58 kmh as it passed over Jiangxi province.
More than half a million people had been evacuated from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces as the typhoon
approached, with 5,500 soldiers deployed to carry out relief work if needed.
While Soulik had earlier caused havoc in Taiwan, tearing roofs from homes, causing landslides that
blocked roads and leading to the cancellation of 350 flights, effects on the mainland were less severe.
Waves up to 10 metres high pounded sea defences in Ningde city when the storm reached Fujian province
on Saturday afternoon, Xinhua news agency reported.
"Billboards have been shattered and trees have been uprooted", it said, adding that almost 31,000 ships
were called back to port and 20 flights were cancelled.
Rains affected 410,000 people in the major Zhejiang city of Wenzhou, causing a "direct economic loss" of
210 million yuan (S$43 million), the agency said.
In Taiwan two people were killed, one is missing and 104 were injured in the storm.
One town in central Taiwan reported "widespread" landslides and floodwater levels a storey high.
The northern village of Bailan saw the heaviest rain, with 90 centimetres falling in 48 hours, with winds
gusting up to 220 kilometres per hour.
Downpours have hit wide swathes of China over the past week, affecting two million people in the
southwest.
The death toll from a rain-triggered landslide in southwestern Sichuan province last week rose to 43 late
Saturday after more bodies were retrieved, Xinhua reported.