CHINA / Regional

Typhoon Prapiroon slams into S. China
(AP/Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-03 21:44

The Guangdong provincial observatory called on government departments to prepare for high waves, landslides, mountain torrents, mud and rock flows, collapsing buildings and flooding.

Local railway authorities said railway services could be only resumed when the conditions improved.

A cargo vessel and barge ran aground on islands off Hong Kong's coast amid the storm, a spokesman from the Government Flying Service said. Dozens of crew members were rescued and there were no reports of injuries or deaths, spokesman Jack Chak said.


Photo taken on August 3, 2006 show the massive swirling waves slapping against the guards in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, as typhoon Prapiroon slammed into southern China Thursday, Aug 3, 2006, bringing heavy winds and rain. Thousands of people were evacuated, Xinhua said. [Xinhua]

By 6:00 p.m. (1000 GMT), 130 flights had been delayed, 143 canceled and 66 redirected, Hong Kong's airport reported. Ferry services were suspended.

Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong's biggest airline, said it canceled the arrival and departure of all flights in Hong Kong until 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) Friday because of excessive winds.

Prapiroon was expected to bring 100 to 180 millimeters of rain to Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou, said Wang Bangzhong, of the Chinese Central Meteorological Station.

Wang said August could see another five or six tropical storms form in the South China Sea area, but only two or three might make landfall.

Prapiroon killed at least six people when it crossed the northern Philippines earlier in the week.

Prapiroon, which means Rain God in Thai, formed in the South China Sea and strengthened into a typhoon on Wednesday. It is expected to hit south China for three or four days, according to the Chinese Central Meteorological Station.

Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Wednesday ordered meteorological agencies to maintain their alert status and ensure timely warnings as they monitored the storm.

Hui, also head of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, called for vessels to return to harbor and measures to ensure safety of people in the storm's path.

China was being hit with more typhoons and tropical rainstorms this year partly due to the warming ocean current in the northwest Pacific and high temperatures in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, said Wang.

The year's first typhoon, Chanchu, hit on May 18, at least 40 days earlier than most years. Prapiroon is the sixth typhoon to hit China.

The fifth typhoon, Kaemi, in late July claimed 35 lives, including six at a military barracks in east China's Jiangxi Province.


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