Heavy Rains, Floods still Batter Asia
TAIPEI (Reuter) - Torrential rains struck pockets of Southeast Asia
Thursday as Typhoon Herb slammed into southern China and
severe floods deluged parts of India, Bangladesh, Thailand and
North Korea.
The powerful storm sliced through Taiwan, killing at least 14 people,
several buried under mudflows, while another 10 missing since
Wednesday were feared dead, rescue officials said.
Over 200 people have been injured by Herb, the second typhoon to
rattle the island in a week.
Landslides and mudflows closed roads and railway lines, while
residents in areas around Taipei waded through water to reach their
flooded homes and begin cleaning up. Rescue workers used rubber
boats to deliver food.
Officials from the Central Weather Bureau said the storm, packing
winds of 110 mph, was at its most damaging early Thursday and its
center, which passed near Taipei, had hit China's southeastern
Fujian province around midday.
The U.S.-based independent forecaster, the Weather Services
Corp (WSC), predicted the storm would weaken rapidly in China
but its remnants would drive further into southern areas of the
country, causing floods and mudslides.
China has already been racked by devastating floods across nine
provinces in the central and southern areas of the country which
have killed more than 1,760 people and destroyed over five million
tonnes of grain crops, officials have said.
There were no immediate reports of further casualties from Herb but
state television said waves damaged a 650 foot section of sea wall
around Changle airport, under construction near Fuzhou, capital of
Fujian province.
Premier Li Peng made at least two telephone calls to senior Fujian
officials to express concern about storm-related damage.
Officials in Fuzhou said the army had been called in to help to
reinforce sea walls and that some residents had been evacuated
from their homes.
''We have stationed rescue workers and stockpiled sand bags and
other emergency supplies near the sea walls,'' said an official in
Fuzhou.
The WSC said floods in areas from Bangladesh through portions of
northern India, including West Bengal, would remain a problem until
monsoon rains diminished later this season. It said those areas were
continuing to recover from major flooding.
Thailand Thursday continued to suffer heavy rains brought by
tropical storm Frankie which have caused widespread floods in 18
Thai provinces over the past 10 days, Interior Ministry officials said.
They said 171 provincial roads and 48 bridges were damaged by
flooding that forced some 54,000 people to flee their homes. A
70-year-old man drowned last week in northern Nan province near
the Lao border, they added.
International aid workers in Pyongyang have reported continued
flooding in North Korea, which is still reeling from devastation to
last year's harvest by the worst floods to hit the country in a century.
Geoff Dennis of the International Federation of the Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies quoted Pyongyang officials as saying that
recent flooding had caused huge damage.
''The situation is very serious,'' he told reporters in Beijing by
telephone from Pyongyang after a trip to the flood-hit region just
north of the South Korean border.
Reut10:59 08-01-96
(01 Aug 1996 10:58 EDT)
TAIPEI (Reuter) - Torrential rains struck pockets of Southeast Asia
Thursday as Typhoon Herb slammed into southern China and
severe floods deluged parts of India, Bangladesh, Thailand and
North Korea.
The powerful storm sliced through Taiwan, killing at least 14 people,
several buried under mudflows, while another 10 missing since
Wednesday were feared dead, rescue officials said.
Over 200 people have been injured by Herb, the second typhoon to
rattle the island in a week.
Landslides and mudflows closed roads and railway lines, while
residents in areas around Taipei waded through water to reach their
flooded homes and begin cleaning up. Rescue workers used rubber
boats to deliver food.
Officials from the Central Weather Bureau said the storm, packing
winds of 110 mph, was at its most damaging early Thursday and its
center, which passed near Taipei, had hit China's southeastern
Fujian province around midday.
The U.S.-based independent forecaster, the Weather Services
Corp (WSC), predicted the storm would weaken rapidly in China
but its remnants would drive further into southern areas of the
country, causing floods and mudslides.
China has already been racked by devastating floods across nine
provinces in the central and southern areas of the country which
have killed more than 1,760 people and destroyed over five million
tonnes of grain crops, officials have said.
There were no immediate reports of further casualties from Herb but
state television said waves damaged a 650 foot section of sea wall
around Changle airport, under construction near Fuzhou, capital of
Fujian province.
Premier Li Peng made at least two telephone calls to senior Fujian
officials to express concern about storm-related damage.
Officials in Fuzhou said the army had been called in to help to
reinforce sea walls and that some residents had been evacuated
from their homes.
''We have stationed rescue workers and stockpiled sand bags and
other emergency supplies near the sea walls,'' said an official in
Fuzhou.
The WSC said floods in areas from Bangladesh through portions of
northern India, including West Bengal, would remain a problem until
monsoon rains diminished later this season. It said those areas were
continuing to recover from major flooding.
Thailand Thursday continued to suffer heavy rains brought by
tropical storm Frankie which have caused widespread floods in 18
Thai provinces over the past 10 days, Interior Ministry officials said.
They said 171 provincial roads and 48 bridges were damaged by
flooding that forced some 54,000 people to flee their homes. A
70-year-old man drowned last week in northern Nan province near
the Lao border, they added.
International aid workers in Pyongyang have reported continued
flooding in North Korea, which is still reeling from devastation to
last year's harvest by the worst floods to hit the country in a century.
Geoff Dennis of the International Federation of the Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies quoted Pyongyang officials as saying that
recent flooding had caused huge damage.
''The situation is very serious,'' he told reporters in Beijing by
telephone from Pyongyang after a trip to the flood-hit region just
north of the South Korean border.
Reut10:59 08-01-96
(01 Aug 1996 10:58 EDT)