China still on flood alert even after typhoon Conson weakens
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Several Chinese provinces and regions are on flood alert Saturday. But Typhoon Conson has weakened after sweeping the tropical island of Hainan Friday.
Hainan Province was recovering from the typhoon attack Saturday. Workers were fixing damaged facilities and draining streets of flood waters as airports in Sanya and Haikou reopened.
Ferry services in the provincial capital Haikou, however, are yet to resume as the wind speeds in Haikou Harbor are still over 70 km per hour, which is unsafe for sailing.
Typhoon Conson made landfall in Hainan at 7:50 p.m. Friday, toppling trees and billboards and killing at least two people, a security guard and a motorist.
Flood control headquarters in Hainan said Conson battered 68 towns and villages in eight cities and flattened 544 houses. Direct economic losses are estimated at 240 million yuan (35.3 million U.S. dollars).
Conson weakened into a tropical storm at 2 a.m. Saturday, the weather bureau in Sanya said, adding that it entered Beibu Bay in the South China Sea at 5 a.m. and is moving towards Vietnam.
The downpours that came with the typhoon eased in most parts of Hainan Saturday but continued in the southern China's coastal province of Guangdong.
The weather bureau in Guangdong said the rainstorms will continue until Wednesday.
Provincial flood control authorities have warned local governments to be vigilant for floods, landslides and dike bursts.
Zhejiang Province, sitting on China's eastern coast and prone to typhoon attacks, is also on the lookout for potential rainstorms and floods.
The provincial flood control headquarters Saturday ordered all cities and counties to reinforce embankments and discharge water from swollen reservoirs.
Rain-triggered disasters, including flood and landslides, are wreaking havoc in several landlocked provinces, too.
Flood control authorities in central Henan Province said Saturday 24 hours of torrential rains had caused landslides in mountainous Xinyang City, killing three people.
The water level in Wuyue Reservoir, one of Henan's largest water conservancy facilities, was 1.67 meters above the alarm level Saturday.
Meteorological authorities have forecast more rain in the province over the coming three days.
Southwest China's Sichuan Province was lashed by the worst rainstorm of this year Thursday night, with rain-triggered torrents and landslides leaving three people dead and another six missing as of midday Saturday, the provincial flood control authorities said.
On Friday, the Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, an important airport in southwestern China, was closed when a thunderstorm struck.
More than 100 flights were canceled or delayed and at least 10,000 passengers were stranded in the terminal building.
The rain stopped in Chengdu Saturday and the airport was working around the clock to handle a record 640 flight landings and takeoffs.
"This will be the largest throughput the airport has ever handled in a single day," said airport official Lu Junming.
In neighboring Yunnan Province, rescuers are still searching for 26 villagers either washed away by torrents or buried in debris after a fatal landslide flattened dozens of homes in Xiaohe Township, Qiaojia County, on Tuesday.
Nineteen bodies had been retrieved as of Saturday, said Wang Zhiquan, a county official in charge of the rescue work.
He said rescue work was increasingly difficult but that it would continue for several days.
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