Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Monday 17 SepteMber 2018

Typhoon pounds south China after killing 64 in Philippines

By VINCENT YU and JIM In the city’s inner harbor
GOMEZ district, the water level
Associated Press reached 1.5 meters (5 feet)
HONG KONG (AP) — Ty- on Sunday and was ex-
phoon Mangkhut barreled pected to rise further. The
into southern China on area was one of the most
Sunday, killing two people affected by floods from Ty-
after lashing the Philip- phoon Hato, which left 10
pines with strong winds and people dead last year.
heavy rain that left at least Authorities in southern Chi-
64 dead and dozens more na issued a red alert, the
feared buried in a land- most severe warning, as
slide. the national meteorologi-
More than 2.4 million peo- cal center said the densely
ple had been evacuated populated region would
in southern China’s Guang- face a “severe test caused
dong province by Sunday by wind and rain” and
evening to flee the massive urged officials to prepare
typhoon and nearly 50,000 for possible disasters.
fishing boats were called Hong Kong’s Cathay Pa-
back to port, state media cific said all of its flights
reported. It threatened to would be canceled be-
be the strongest typhoon In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, waves crash onto the coastline in Zhuhai in tween 2:30 a.m. Sunday
to hit Hong Kong in nearly southern China’s Guangdong Province on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018. and 4 a.m. Monday. The
two decades. Associated Press city of Shenzhen also can-
“Prepare for the worst,” in the village of Ucab.The strophic flooding across pouring out of the build- celed all flights between
Hong Kong Security Minis- building — a former mining the Carolinas in the United ings, fluttering and spiral- Sunday and early Monday
ter John Lee Ka-chiu urged bunkhouse that had been States, where more than 30 ing as they headed for the morning. Hainan Airlines
residents. transformed into a chapel inches of rain since Friday debris-strewn ground, ac- canceled 234 flights in the
That warning came after — was obliterated when threatened a deluge of cording to several videos cities of Haikou, Sanya,
Mangkhut’s devastating part of a mountain slope historic proportions as the posted on social media. Guangzhou, Shenzhen and
march through the north- collapsed. Three villagers storm slowly crawled inland Mangkhut also felled Zhuhai scheduled over the
ern Philippines, where the who managed to escape from the coast. Muddy trees, tore bamboo scaf- weekend.
storm made landfall Sat- told authorities what hap- river waters swamped en- folding off buildings under All high-speed and some
urday on Luzon island with pened. tire communities and the construction and flooded normal rail services in
sustained winds of 205 kilo- “They thought they were re- coastal city of Wilmington, some areas of Hong Kong Guangdong and Hainan
meters (127 miles) per hour ally safe there,” the mayor North Carolina, was cut off with waist-high waters, ac- provinces were also halted,
and gusts of 255 kph (158 said. He expressed sadness by the flood waters. cording to the South China the China Railway Guang-
mph). that the villagers, many of In China, meanwhile, Morning Post. zhou Group Co. said.
Police Superintendent Pel- them poor, had few op- Mangkhut continued its de- The storm made landfall In the Philippines, rescu-
ita Tacio said 34 villagers tions to survive in a region structive path, with Hong in the Guangdong city of ers for the Itogon landslide
had died and 36 remained where big corporations Kong bracing for a storm Taishan at 5 p.m., packing were hampered by rain
missing in landslides in two have profited immensely that could be the strongest wind speeds of 162 kilome- and mud. The search and
villages in Itogon town in from gold mines. to hit the city since Typhoon ters (100 miles) per hour. rescue operation was sus-
the northern Philippine Rescuers were scrambling York in 1999. State television broad- pended at nightfall and
mountain province of Ben- to pull out the body of a A video posted online by caster CGTN reported that was to resume at daybreak
guet. victim from the mound of residents showed the top surging waves flooded a Monday, said Palangdan,
Itogon Mayor Victorio mud and rocks in Ucab corner of an old building seaside hotel in the city of the mayor. Police and their
Palangdan told The As- before Tacio, the police of- break and fall off, while in Shenzhen. vehicles could not imme-
sociated Press by phone ficial, left the area Sunday. another video, a tall build- In Macau, next door to diately reach the land-
that at the height of the “I could hear villagers wail- ing swayed as strong winds Hong Kong, casinos were slide-hit area because the
typhoon’s onslaught Satur- ing in their homes near the blew. ordered to close from 11 ground was unstable and
day afternoon, dozens of site of the accident,” Tacio The storm shattered glass p.m. Saturday, the first time soaked from the heavy
people, mostly miners and said. The tragedy came windows on commercial such action was taken in rains, regional police chief
their families, rushed into as Florence, another ma- skyscrapers in Hong Kong, the city, the South China Rolando Nana told the
an old three-story building jor storm, unleashed cata- sending sheets of paper Morning Post reported. ABS-CBN TV network.q