South China soaks as rains from Haikui continue to pound region

BEIJING: The remnants of Typhoon Haikui drenched China for a third day since making landfall, as moisture-laden clouds dumped rain onto the country’s south despite weakening cyclonic winds.

While forecasters continue to warn of downpours in Fujian province, storm clouds have also been moving westward into one of the country’s richest provinces Guangdong, where the town of Tangxi has reported torrential rains and overflowing rivers.

A dozen villages have been affected with a handful severely waterlogged.

Over 350 people, including elderly, women and children were relocated from low-lying areas, according to state media.

The China Meteorological Administration said areas in central and eastern Guangdong, as well as the southern part of Jiangxi province, southern areas in Hunan province, the northeastern areas of the Guangxi region, and the central part of the island of Hainan are expected to see heavy rainstorms, with the northern parts of Guangdong and the southeastern coast of the province expected to be hit harder.

Later this week, the storms are expected to continue in Guangxi bringing the southwestern region extreme rainfall on Friday and Saturday before potentially dissipating on Sunday.

Authorities issued warnings of mountain torrents and geological disasters for the cities of Guilin, Laibin, Guigang and Wuzhou.

Haikui’s storms flooded parts of southeastern Fujian province where it landed early on Tuesday, forcing 294,100 people to evacuate, inundated 9,949.7 hectares (24,586.24 acres) of crops and damaged nearly 2,540 homes.

Economic losses in the province have reached 5.054 billion yuan ($690.81 million) as the disaster continued to develop, state media said.

Heavy rains in the port city of Xiamen eased slightly but authorities continued to warn residents of geological disasters such as landslides after rainfall there broke a record for the longest heavy rain since such records began in 1953.

Intense rains in the city of Fuzhou shattered 12-year-old rainfall records, surpassing the amount brought by Typhoon Doksuri late July.