Typhoon Prapiroon slams into S. China
(AP/Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-03 21:44
The fourth typhoon, Bilis, lashed south and east China and claimed 612 lives
in southern China in mid July.
Prapiroon, which killed six people in the Philippines, is "as strong, if not
stronger" than Bilis, said Gao Shuanzhu, a senior official at the China's
national observatory, according to Xinhua.
Philippine authorities said two other people were missing following lightning
storms and flooding caused by Prapiroon, which struck the country as a tropical
storm. About 15,000 others were evacuated as parts of the northern Philippines
remained inundated.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies issued a US$4.8 million (euro3.8 million) appeal to provide food,
tents, and quilts for 240,000 people left homeless by floods unleashed by
typhoon downpours.
This year's typhoon season started unusually early and storms have already
killed more than 1,460 people, mainly in the densely populated southeastern
provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiangxi.
Chinese officials estimate more than 1 million houses have been damaged and
millions of hectares (acres) of farmland and forests
destroyed.
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