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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> China -> 
At least 32 dead after typhoon hits E. China
    2019-08-12  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

A TOTAL of 32 people died and 16 remain missing after Lekima, the ninth and strongest typhoon of the year, landed at around

1:45 a.m. Saturday in the city of Wenling, Taizhou City in East China’s Zhejiang Province, the provincial flood control headquarters said yesterday morning.

Lekima packed winds of 187 kilometers per hour and brought heavy rainstorms. Zhejiang is often hit by typhoons in the summer, but Lekima is among the top three strongest to have hit the province in history, weather experts said.

“Lekima is like a horse with an extremely fierce temper. It rakes in so much water as it forms off the ocean. Incessant downpours pushed a lot of rivers to very dangerous levels,” said Luo Yuezhen, a top meteorologist with the Zhejiang weather service center.

In Zhejiang alone, more than 21,000 service personnel and militia members have engaged in rescue and relief. They stacked sandbags, drained muddy water off the streets and rode on inflatable boats to evacuate residents who lived in the 1,600-year-old town of Linhai, where streets were completely submerged Saturday.

Military rescue teams were called to the city of Taizhou in Zhejiang, where a large part of urban areas suffered power cuts, shortage of tap water and disruption of communication.

A total of 650 firefighters, soldiers, policemen and government agency staff are searching for nine people who are still missing in Shanzao Village in Yongjia County. By yesterday, 23 people in the village had been confirmed dead after torrential downpours caused a landslide, blocked a river and submerged many homes.

Xu Wenhai, a 59-year-old village official, was on his way back home when he saw the family of his neighbor trying to wade through knee-deep water and escape a crumbling house. He helped the children of his neighbors escape but did not have time to save the mother.

In Zhejiang, nearly 1.22 million people had been evacuated from their homes, and nearly 5 million people were affected, said the provincial flood control headquarters.

The typhoon damaged more than 189,000 hectares of crops and 36,000 houses, and the direct economic losses reached 16.6 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion), the office said.

Lekima was expected to make a second landing along the coastline in Shandong late yesterday, packing strong winds and heavy downpours, the National Meteorological Center warned. (Xinhua)

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