Powerful typhoon rages across south China, killing at least three

BEIJING (AFP) Aug 26, 2003
A powerful typhoon has wreaked havoc on large parts of southern China, killing at least three people and affecting millions, state media and officials said Tuesday.

Typhoon Krovanh roared along several coastal provinces, hitting a number of population centers before settling down somewhat on China's border with Vietnam, according to Xinhua news agency.

Two were killed in Zhanjiang, a city on south China's Leizhou peninsula that lay directly in the path of the typhoon, which was characterized as force 12, the maximum on the Chinese scale, the agency reported.

This brings the confirmed death toll from the typhoon to three, after a woman drowned in the city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, when she was swept away by waves at a beach.

Krovanh, named after a Cambodian tree, also injured five in Zhanjiang as it engulfed the port city, which is routinely on the frontline when typhoons strike southern China, Xinhua reported.

A total of three million people were affected to various extents in the Zhanjiang area, according to the agency.

Material damages in and around the city were still being counted Tuesday after the typhoon struck with winds of 133 km (about 82 miles) per hour.

It destroyed 10,086 rooms throughout the city, the agency said, adopting a local habit of counting damage in rooms, not houses.

The typhoon also caused dikes protecting the city to be breached in 105 different spots, Xinhua reported.

The typhoon later slammed into Guangxi Zhuang region, a poor, mountainous area near China's Vietnamese border, exacting a high toll, according to officials.

"Twenty people have been injured in Guangxi Zhuang region," a civil affairs official surnamed Qin told AFP by telephone. "Some of them were hit by toppled trees, but no one died."

Krovanh also caused chaos in the three large cities of Qingzhou, Beihai and Fengchenggang, where power and telecommunications were cut off late Monday, she said.

As of early afternoon Tuesday, telecommunications had still not been reestablished in the three cities, she said.

The typhoon comes barely a month after Typhoon Imbudo hit the same region, killing at least 14 people, flattening some 7,000 buildings and causing millions of dollars of damage.

TERRA.WIRE