Environment | Typhoon Nepartak batters China’s coast, killing at least 2

A villager walks around a destroyed house, after torrential rainfall brought by typhoon Nepartak, in Fujian Province

At least two people were dead and 17 others missing after Typhoon Nepartak battered China’s coast with heavy rain and strong winds that toppled homes and triggered landslides, officials in southeastern Fujian province said yesterday.
Fujian’s water resources department said that more than 438,000 people had been relocated. Hundreds of flights and trains were canceled, while damaged power stations left swaths of the province without electricity.
Nepartak, the first typhoon of the season, first struck Taiwan on Friday with even greater power, leaving two people dead and 72 injured.
It weakened into a strong tropical storm after making landfall in Fujian on Saturday, but continued to soak the region, where emergency workers scrambled to reach residents
trapped on the upper floors of submerged buildings and collapsed homes.
Fujian province’s water resources department said authorities evacuated more than 422,000 people living in risky areas and suspended or canceled several hundred flights and bullet train services. The department’s website also said that two people were killed and 17 others missing, but did not give more details.
The typhoon made landfall around 1:45 p.m. in the municipality of Quanzhou, packing winds of 90 kilometers (55 miles) an hour. State broadcaster China Central Television said the storm triggered waves 4-5 meters (13-16 feet) high.
China is already contending with some of the worst flooding the country has experienced in recent years. Since June 30, torrential rain, floods, landslides and hailstorms have killed 164 people and left 26 missing in 11 provinces, according to the civil affairs ministry. MDT/AP