Tropical Storm Haikui forces 294,000 people to evacuate in southeast China

Tropical storm Haikui forced the temporary evacuation of 294,000 people in southeast China’s Fujian province, where it caused serious property and agricultural damage, local media reported on Thursday.

Nearly 1.6 million people have been affected by the typhoon in the province of 38 million since Tuesday, according to local authorities quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.

Almost 10,000 hectares of crops were damaged and more than 2,500 houses were completely or partially destroyed, resulting in direct economic damage of 5 billion yuan (643 million euros).

From Tuesday to Wednesday, rainfall exceeded 250 millimeters in 65 locations, with the maximum rainfall of 548.9 millimeters in Gaishan City, surpassing the local record set by Typhoon Longwang in 2005.

Nearly 60,000 people were mobilized to participate in emergency tasks until 20:00 local time Wednesday (13:00 Lisbon).

Huang Zhigang, an expert cited by the agency, said that even more heavy rains are expected in parts of Fujian province in the next two days, which could lead to landslides, river floods and other natural disasters.

Local authorities said on Wednesday that 49 of the 420 reservoirs in Fuzhou Municipality, the capital of Fujian province, had exceeded volume limits and that more than 80 facilities in the city center were affected by severe flooding with up to 1.4 meters of water accumulation. on the ground.

Natural disasters affected 8.8 million people in the country in August, including 168 dead or missing and 547,000 evacuated, according to statistics released recently by China’s Ministry of Emergency Management.

In the summer, China suffered some of the heaviest rains and deadliest floods in recent years. Dozens of people died, including in mountainous areas on the outskirts of Beijing.