Chinese death toll from Typhoon Bilis rises to 154

BEIJING, July 17: The death toll in southern China from torrential rainstorms and flooding unleashed by Typhoon Bilis has risen to at least 154 people, a Chinese newspaper reported today.

Bilis ravaged the Philippines and Taiwan before hitting China, where it was downgraded to a tropical storm but still wrought havoc.

In the southern province of Hunan, over 2.3 million people in three cities and 13 counties were affected by floods, with 78 killed and over 100 missing, the Beijing News said.

It said 43 people died in southeastern Fujian province, as floods swept away 19,000 homes and forced the evacuation of 519,000 people. Twenty-four people are missing, the paper said.

Floods across 29 counties killed at least 33 people in southern Guangdong province, the paper said.

Flooding has disrupted train services, leaving thousands of people stranded in stations along the main Beijing-Guangzhou line. One section of the track in Guangdong was under 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) of water, the paper said.

In Guangdong's Lechang, some residents were trapped in high-rise buildings for two days as water rose to 6.13 metres.

It was the city's worst flooding on record, the paper said.

The rising tide destroyed a bridge, cut off utilities to the city and sank 20 rescue boats, the paper said.

Floods cut off over 100 roads in Hunan province, trapping buses and cars and stranding thousands of people, and bad weather stopped over 50 flights from the southern city of Shenzhen taking off, Hong Kong newspaper Wen Weipo said today.

With more bad weather expected in Guangdong this week, conditions could become even more severe, the Beijing News said.

Disaster officials put the number of dead at 28 in the Philippines, where more bodies were found on Saturday in swollen rivers and creeks and dug out from dozens of minor landslides.

The storm also caused one death in southern Taiwan.

Reuters