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At least 13 people were killed and another 14 injured when tropical storm Kammuri struck the southern Chinese province of Guangdong early Monday morning, according to Guangdong provincial flood prevention headquarters.
Twenty others were still missing by press time.
The storm, accompanied by torrential rains, ripped through the coastal cities of Shanwei, Shantou and Lufeng in the eastern part of Guangdong Province, causing extensive damage.
A great deal of cropland was flooded, and many bridges, tunnels and power poles were destroyed.
Water and electricity supplies in some of the storm-hit areas were cut off.
Local officials are still tallying the direct economic losses from Kammuri.
In Wuhua County alone, 10 farmers were killed when they were swallowed by a massive landslide on Monday morning.
In Shantou, two people were electrocuted when they were repairing power facilities amid heavy rain.
Shantou International Airport was closed for more than four hours on Monday, with 10 domestic and international flights cancelled or delayed.
The Guangdong provincial government has sent a relief group headed by Zhou Bingnan, deputy secretary-general of the provincial government, to the flood-hit cities and counties to help local residents rebuild their homes and restore production as soon as possible.
Eight scheduled flights were delayed at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, while another nine arrival flights had to be diverted to other airports near Guangzhou Tuesday.
The heavy rainfall caused by Kammuri has helped ease the serious drought that has been battering Guangdong since the beginning of the year.
Affected by Kammuri, many cities in Guangdong, including Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, have been soaked with heavy rains over the past three days.
And the heavy rainfalls will last for another few days, meteorologists said.
Liaoning in Northeast China was struck by a rarely seen torrential rain last weekend.
The rain affected 45,000 households, and caused heavy losses to 120 companies in the city, even forcing some of them to stop operation.
By Monday night, 18,000 hectares of land had been inundated.
(China Daily August 7, 2002)
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