Tropical storm approaches Hainan amid rain disasters
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The fifth tropical storm of the year is expected to arrive at China's southernmost island province Hainan Monday night or Tuesday, amid nationwide rain-triggered disasters, the local weather bureau reported.
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Fishing boats dock at a harbor in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, on Aug. 23, 2010. The fifth tropical storm of the year is expected to arrive in Hainan Monday night or Tuesday, the local weather bureau reported. |
A tropical low pressure system across the South China Sea intensified into a tropical storm at 8 a.m. Monday. The storm, by name of "Mindulle," will move northwest at 15 to 20 kilometers per hour in the coming 24 hours, the Hainan Provincial Meteorological Bureau reported.
Mindulle, which means dandelion in Korean, is expected either to make landfall or to sweep by the island province between midnight and Tuesday morning, packing high winds and torrential rain, it said.
The provincial maritime bureau issued a sailing ban at 6:30 a.m. on at least one third of passenger and cargo ships that were unable to withstand winds up to 60 km per hour.
More than 20,000 fishing boats have been called back, according to a statement issued by the bureau at 10 a.m.
Mindulle will also bring about torrential rain and gales of up to 90 km per hour to the coastal areas of Guangdong Province, said Lin Liangxun, chief weatherman with the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Station.
Lin said most parts of the province would expect moderate to heavy rain in the coming three days.
Heavy rain and subsequent geological disasters have taken heavy tolls across China this summer.
A rain-triggered mudslide hit Zhouqu in northwest China's Gansu Province on Aug. 8, leaving at least 1,435 dead and 330 still missing.
Last week's mudslides in a remote mountain town in southwest China's Yunnan Province have killed at least 29 people and left 63 others missing.
Rescuers were still racing Monday to build a new steel bridge over a swollen river, hoping to speed up rescue work and transport of supplies to the mudslide-ravaged town. The old bridge was destroyed by floods last week, cutting off the remote town.
Rain-triggered mudslides also killed at least 18 people in Wenchuan and Qingchuan counties in southwest China's Sichuan -- which is still recovering from the massive earthquake of 2008.
Liang Mingchao, 22, said the recent disasters were "not too scary compared with the earthquake." "We'll rebuilt our homes and move back," said Liang, a Tibetan whose name, however, is Mandarin Chinese.
Liang and his parents, who lived in Yingxiu town, the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake, miraculously survived both disasters though their home has been destroyed twice.
In Neijiang City of Sichuan, three days of torrential rain has resulted in four deaths, two injured and left one person missing as of Sunday, the local government said Monday.
Heavy rain also wreaked havoc in northeast China's Liaoning Province as a major river bordering China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has swelled, forcing the evacuation of some 253,500 residents.
