Typhoon Washes Away 59 Soldiers

[David]

AP


China said 59 of its soldiers were washed away by raging floodwaters sparked by Typhoon Longwang, and the country's president called for an all-out search, state media reported Tuesday.

The typhoon slammed into China's southeast coast late Sunday night. It was downgraded Monday afternoon to a tropical storm, but not before raining havoc on low-lying coastal areas.

The 59 soldiers, members of the China's paramilitary armed police in charge of domestic security, were in a training school barracks in Fujian province when the violent floods hit Monday night, state media said.

Two buildings at the school were washed away, the reports said.

President Hu Jintao ordered that no efforts be spared to search for them, state newspapers reported.

If they are confirmed dead, it would dramatically raise China's official death toll from Typhoon Longwang, which stands at three.

The typhoon also killed at least one person on the island of Taiwan before hitting mainland China.

Chinese authorities had evacuated more than 500,000 people from coastal areas ahead of the storm, forcing boats to return to harbor and closing tourist sites.

As the storm churned inland, it destroyed 5,400 homes in Fujian and wiped out 12,500 hectares of crops, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Flash floods triggered a landslide that claimed the three people already confirmed dead, it said.

State television showed trees bending under huge gusts of wind and cars driving slowly through flooded roads. It said some railway services had been suspended in hard-hit Fujian after heavy rain had washed away some track foundations.

It was still raining in parts of Fujian on Tuesday, though the winds had died down, the local weather bureau said.

China has suffered numerous heavy storms this year. In September alone, typhoons Talim, Khanun and Damrey killed more than 130 people across the southern part of the country.

Longwang means "Dragon King" in Chinese.

Well...our National got to the Katrina site kinda late. Their guys got there ahead of time. I'd say late is sometimes better.

[Boats]

I heard we lost over 900 people in the last hurricane or was that for both? What a shame.

[HARDCORE]

Pardon my sharp candidness and chilly rudeness, but that is 59 less that we may some day have to face! Remember, Chinese and Russian pilots and ground crews manned some of the MIGs in Korea and the SAM sites in Vietnam, it was reported!

In all fairness, however, it must also be noted that when the Chinese took over control of the Apex POW Camps from the North Korean Communist in the early 50s, they did bring out barrels of boiled rice and steamed bread for the POWs. "That was a helluva lot more than the North Koreans did!"

It was also reported that the Chinese recently offered up $5,000,000 for Hurricane Relief? "Maybe there is some small hope for them after all?"

Rick

[Boats]

HC you are devil - you could sink many ships with that silver tongue.

[HARDCORE]

BOATS -

Who - lovable old me??

RICK

[Seascamp]

It?s been my long-term observation that Asians tend to push the curiosity envelop real hard and often as not go right to the very edge of obliteration for the sake of curiosity. Sea walls with massive rollers breaking and the wind a howling like crazy seem to be like a massive people magnet. I have never figured that out and suppose there are quite a number of curiosity related deaths with each storm. Perhaps it?s the drama or the bravado, I don?t know, but they all go there; men, women, kiddos, and apparently just to watch or take pics or to get the feeling of nature?s fury.

Long ago during a typhoon in the South China Sea, we took green water over the gun mounts and white water clear up to the bridge and maybe that burned out my curiosity about such things. Kind of like, otay, we done that and no need for repeats to learn the lesson.

Scamp

[Boats]

Scamp you are sooo correct. Water is very dangerous when it is in motion and under high winds. Waves so high people don't even understand just how big these boys can get and just how dangerous the seas can turn on ya.