Typhoon death toll rises to 255 in China
Pastor Dale Morgan
Typhoon death toll rises to 255 in China
*
By JOE McDONALD Associated Press Writer
Monday, August 14, 2006 7:15 a.m. ET
BEIJING (AP) -- Soldiers mobilized to help with the recovery from
China's strongest typhoon in five decades, while the death toll rose to
255 Monday after scores more bodies were pulled from the sea.
More than 100 people were still missing, raising the possibility that
the death toll from Typhoon Saomai could climb much higher since it
slammed into China's crowded southeast Thursday.
Saomai, with winds up to 135 mph, destroyed more than 50,000 houses,
sank more than 1,000 ships and tore down power lines, blacking out six
cities. More than 1.6 million people were forced to flee their homes.
The number of confirmed deaths rose by more than 100 after scores of
bodies were pulled from the sea in Fuding, a city in Fujian province,
the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Soldiers were sent to repair roads, phone and power lines and water
supplies destroyed by Saomai and other recent storms, Xinhua said.
Saomai, the Vietnamese name for the planet Venus, was the eighth major
storm to hit China during an unusually violent typhoon season. The
region was still recovering from Tropical Storm Bilis, which killed more
than 600 people last month.
Cities hardest-hit by Saomai were coastal Wenzhou, where at least 81
people were killed, and Fuding in Fujian province, with at least 138
deaths and 1,350 people injured.
In Fuding, the storm damaged a 1,146-year-old Buddhist temple,
collapsing its gate house and 20 other buildings, Xinhua said. It said
damage to the Ziguo temple totaled $625,000.
Saomai killed at least two people in the Philippines earlier and dumped
rain on Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The weather bureau said Saomai was the most powerful typhoon since its
record-keeping began in 1949. In 1956, a typhoon with winds up to 145
mph killed 4,900 people in Zhejiang.