Haiyan-triggered rainstorms lash south China

At least four were killed and seven remain missing in south China after rainstorms triggered by Typhoon Haiyan lashed the region on Sunday and Monday. The epicenter of the storm reached Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region at 9 a.m. Monday, packing winds with a speed of about 118 km per hour, after the storm made landfall in Vietnam, the regional meteorological station said. One person drowned in Beihai City and a total of 12,000 people were affected in Guangxi as of 10:50 a.m. Monday, said the regional flood control and drought relief authority. The downpours have caused several local rivers to swell, exceeded warning levels. Rains hit southern Guangxi with precipitation of 300 mm in eight townships from 8 a.m. Sunday to 9 a.m. Monday, the authority said. The Fangcheng district in Fangchenggang City saw a maximum rainfall of 451 mm. Kindergartens, primary and middle schools suspended classes on Monday in Qinzhou, Beihai and Fangchenggang cities. Downpours will continue to sweep parts of Guangxi until Tuesday. Local meteorological stations have issued a red warning, its highest-level warning, for rainstorms in several areas of the region. The storm has left three dead and nearly half a million affected in the southern island province of Hainan, where 39,000 were displaced and more than 650 houses collapsed or were damaged, the provincial civil affairs department said. Seven crew members of a cargo ship registered in Guangxi were missing on Saturday after its mooring rope broke in strong winds and the vessel was blown away from Sanya City, Hainan. The Sanya Phoenix Airport resumed normal operations early Monday after the storm, which sideswiped the island province, caused the cancellation of more than 200 flights in Sanya. Power has not been fully restored in the city. Waves as high as eight meters triggered by the storm killed eight people and injured eight others in northeastern Taiwan on Saturday. The typhoon has weakened into a tropical storm and is moving northeast at a speed of 15 km per hour. Haiyan has left at least 255 dead in the Philippines after the super typhoon made its first landfall in the central areas of the country on Friday.