China typhoon kills 115

One of the worst typhoons to hit China in several years killed 115 people and injured more than 1,800 when it battered southeastern Zhejiang province with torrential rain and gale-force winds, officials said yesterday.

Typhoon Rananim hit the coast late on Thursday, leaving 16 people missing, causing widespread damage in the rice-growing province and knocking down more than 40,000 buildings, said an official of the provincial meteorological bureau.

"As of 5 p.m. (0900 GMT), the typhoon had killed 115 people in Zhejiang and 16 are missing," said an official with the Zhejiang civil affairs office.

As many as 1,800 people had been injured, including 185 who were seriously hurt, officials said. More than 8.6 million people had been affected by the storm, officials said.

The death toll was likely to rise as the typhoon swept inland into eastern Jiangxi province, officials said.

Most injuries were caused by collapsing homes, they said. Officials had evacuated more than 460,000 people from coastal areas of Zhejiang province to escape the storm.

"This is the strongest typhoon since 1997," said an official of the provincial civil affairs bureau. "Lots of trees and electricity pylons were toppled." In 1997, nearly 250 people died when typhoon Winnie struck the coast, causing 19.8 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in economic losses.

Rananim brought torrential rains and winds exceeding 160 kph. The eye of the storm made landfall at about 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Thursday near the town of Wenling.

"Shop signboards were flying out and hit people's arms and legs like knives," said a doctor at the No. 1 People's Hospital in Wenling. "The wind was really very, very strong and we have rarely seen this."

Some of those in hospital were in critical condition, he said.

The Zhejiang government had requested aid from the central government to deal with the disaster, a local official said.

Direct economic losses were estimated at 15.33 billion yuan ($1.85 billion) and 271,00 hectares of crops had been damaged, the Civil Affairs Ministry said.

Mud flows, landslides and storm tides along the coast were all dangers, Xinhua quoted Gao Shuanzhu, chief forecaster at the Central Meteorological Station, as saying.