AFP: Typhoon Chebi Kills at Least 73 in Southeast China

BEIJING, Jun 25, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Typhoon Chebi killed at least 73 people during its ravages of parts of southeast China over the weekend, with dozens more believed missing, a Chinese official said on Monday.

The storm also killed at least nine people in neighboring Taiwan, reports there have said.

The typhoon hit Fujian province on Saturday evening, causing extensive damage to the Fuzhou and Ningde areas, said the official from the provincial disaster relief office. The state-run China News Service said earlier that 83 people were missing.

"We're still collecting data. Some of the people reported missing have returned home," the official said.

Two of the dead were from Ningde, the rest from the 12 counties and districts in Fuzhou, the provincial capital, she said.

The typhoon, known as Feiyan, or Swallow, in China, brought heavy rain and strong winds, causing damage which affected 2 million people in the province and damage estimated at 3 billion yuan (360 million dollars), she said.

More than 6,000 houses collapsed in Ningde alone, she said.

Many coastal villages lost entire fleets of fishing boats, state media said.

A village near Gaoshan town lost 49 boats, with several fishermen missing, while nearby Aoqian village lost 144 boats, the China News Service said.

The typhoon stranded 2,000 passengers at Fuzhou's Changle airport until it reopened at 4 p.m. on Sunday, the agency said.

Debris from roof tiles, advertising hoarding and telephone booths littered urban streets after the typhoon passed.

Hurricane-force winds uprooted an entire pagoda from the top of Fujian's Yurong mountain.

Fujian took the full force of the typhoon after it skirted Taiwan and hit land near Fuqing, a spokesman for China's national meteorological office said. On Monday the typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm, the spokesman said.

It brought up to 208 millilitres of rain to parts of Shanghai on Saturday and Sunday, damaging 600 houses and causing minor flooding, according to state media. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)

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