By SPA,
Shanghai : Tropical storm Fengshen brought another bout of wet misery to southern China on Wednesday with heavy rains and strong winds after killing hundreds in the
Philippines, reported ap.
China’s southeast was still recovering from flooding earlier this month that killed at least 63 people, forced the evacuation of at least 1.66 million and caused billions of dollars in damage in a region anchored by the country’s manufacturing capital, the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province.
Fengshen made landfall Wednesday morning with winds of up to 51 miles (83 kilometers) per hour in the economic boomtown of Shenzhen, with meteorologists predicting up to 8 inches (200 millimeters) of rain Wednesday and Thursday, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
One crewman was missing and another was injured after they fell into the sea from a container ship that was making an emergency stop off Guangdong to wait out the storm, Xinhua reported. The missing crewman reportedly had no life jacket, it said.
More than 13,000 ships in Guangdong returned to harbor before the storm hit, Xinhua said.
Schools were closed in Shenzhen and nearby Hong Kong, which also shut all courts and financial markets.
Flood control authorities in Shenzhen said no deaths had been reported there as of Wednesday morning, Xinhua said.
The China Central Meteorological Station said Fengshen was expected to weaken as it moved further inland, but its heavy rains would affect the provinces of Fujian, Guangxi, Jiangxi and Hunan, the news agency reported.
In the Philippines, Fengshen _ then a typhoon _ left 329 people dead from flooding and landslides and more than 200 missing. More than 800 others were missing on a ferry that capsized in the rough weather.
China has given little attention to this month’s flooding in its southern region, instead keeping the focus firmly on relief for last month’s earthquake in central Sichuan province. The death toll from that disaster is expected to pass 80,000, Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said Tuesday.