Over 36,000 evacuated in China's Fuzhou due to typhoon Haikui

Beijing, Sep 6 (IANS) More than 36,000 people in Fuzhou, capital of China's Fujian province, have been temporarily evacuated as typhoon Haikui brought heavy rainstorms to the region, authorities said Wednesday.

As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, torrential rains had inflicted damage to 147 townships of the city, leading to a direct economic loss of over 552 million yuan ($76 million), according to the city's flood control and drought relief headquarters.

Multiple areas of the city experienced heavy rainstorms starting from 9 p.m. on Tuesday, with cumulative precipitation from 9 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday breaking three-hour and six-hour maximum rainfall records of the Wushan national weather station, reports Xinhua news agency reported.

Primary schools, middle schools, kindergartens and extracurricular training institutions remained suspended on Wednesday, and urban buses, subways, trains and airport shuttle buses temporarily suspended operations. Resorts and parks were temporarily closed.

Fujian province raised the emergency response for heavy rains to Level II at 11 p.m. Tuesday.