Scores killed in China typhoon

China’s toll from Typhoon Talim last week has risen to at least 58 after five more fatalities have been reported, with nine people still missing.

Heavy rains and mudslides destroyed 17,200 houses

The eastern province of Zhejiang is now bracing itself for more storms triggered by another storm, Typhoon Nabi, state media said on Sunday.

Strong winds and rainstorms, fuelled by Typhoon Nabi was churning towards Japan on Sunday, and was expected to ravage coastal areas of northern and central Zhejiang early this week, prompting local authorities to urge efforts to minimise the damage. 
 
The newly reported deaths from Typhoon Talim were in Anhui province, bringing that inland area’s toll to 44, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Sunday.
 
The government earlier reported 14 deaths in Wenzhou, a southeastern port city where the typhoon roared ashore on Thursday, wrecking houses and roads and knocking out power.

Typhoon’s power

In Anhui, heavy rains and mudslides caused by the storm destroyed 17,200 houses, Xinhua said.

The report said local authorities were rushing emergency supplies to survivors.

Talim had weakened to a tropical storm by late Thursday, and Xinhua did not say how it killed so many people in an inland area where its winds and rains would have been less powerful.

Earlier reports said the hardest-hit area was near Dabie Mountain in Anhui.

Mountainous areas in China often suffer torrential flash floods in storms, due to excessive tree-cutting and farming that leave stripped hillsides unable to trap rain.

Typhoons are common in Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and southern China during storm season, that lasts from early summer to late autumn.

But experts predicted on Tuesday morning that Nabi was expected to hit closest to Kyushu in Japan, threatening a wide swathe of the western part of the country, with strong winds and heavy rain.