Typhoon Morakot moves toward China
29 people missing in southern Taiwan
Last Updated: Sunday, August 9, 2009 | 1:02 AM ET
The Associated Press
A woman rides in an inflatable boat with rescuers Saturday in the southern Taiwanese town of Linbian. (Associated Press)Typhoon Morakot churned toward China, forcing the evacuation of nearly one million people Sunday, a day after lashing Taiwan with torrential rains that caused the worst flooding on the island in 50 years.
Twenty-nine people were missing in southern Taiwan, the Disaster Relief Centre said, and a woman was killed when her vehicle plunged into a ditch in Kaohsiung county in heavy rain Friday.
Morakot was centred 70 kilometres off China's southeastern Fujian province Sunday morning. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said the storm had winds of up to 108 kilometres per hour and was headed northwest toward China at a speed of 11 km/h.
About one million people were evacuated from China's eastern coastal provinces by early Sunday — more than 470,000 people in Zhejiang and 485,000 in neighbouring Fujian. Authorities in Fujian called 48,000 boats back to harbour.
The meteorological station in eastern Zhejiang issued a typhoon alert and said the storm was likely to make landfall sometimebetween noon and nighttime, bringing heavy rain to coastal areas.
Morakot hit Taiwan late Friday but crossed the island Saturday and weakened to a tropical storm in the Taiwan Strait. Morakot also smashed into the northern Philippines early Friday, triggering floods and landslides that killed at least 12 people.
Worst flooding in decades
Several southern Taiwan counties recorded more than 200 centimetres of rain Friday and Saturday, the worst flooding to hit the area in half a century, the Central Weather Bureau reported.
The Disaster Relief Centre reported Sunday that flash flooding had washed away a makeshift home in southern Kaohsiung, leaving 16 people missing. Three others were swept away in southeastern Taitung county, including two policemen helping to evacuate villages.
Ten others were missing, including three fishermen from a capsized boat and three others whose cars fell into a swelling river, it said. In southern Pingtung county, 4,000 people were stranded in inundated villages waiting for police boats to rescue them, news media reported.
Morakot is the first typhoon to hit Taiwan this year. Typhoons frequently move in between July and September, often causing injuries and deaths in mountainous regions prone to landslides and flash floods.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Goni — which made landfall in Guangdong on Wednesday and hit the coastal areas of Hainan Thursday and Friday — weakened into a tropical depression by Sunday, said an official who would give only his surname, Lin.
Rescue helicopters and ships were still searching for about 10 crew members whose ships were caught in Goni's gusts Saturday, according to a duty officer at the Hainan provincial government who declined to give his name.
