Southern China braces for Typhoon Conson landfall

[July 16, 2010]  BEIJING (AP) -- Disaster prevention teams fanned out across southern China in preparation for torrential rains and lashing winds Friday, as Typhoon Conson crept toward land again after killing 39 people and leaving a trail of destruction in the Philippines.

Conson had been downgraded to a tropical storm after blowing out of the Philippines, but strengthened again into a typhoon late Thursday with winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour), China's National Meteorological Center said.

The typhoon killed at least 39 people in the Philippines, but emergency crews restored electricity to Manila and nearby provinces on Luzon island on Thursday as normalcy crept back. The number of missing jumped to 84 as reports delayed by power outages and communication problems reached Manila, the national disaster agency said.

It was expected to make landfall on Hainan island Friday evening or night, though it could veer to the west and avoid a direct hit.

Light rain was already falling on Hainan, and conditions were dark and windy, an official at the provincial meteorological bureau said. Authorities dispatched relief workers in preparation for the storm and ordered thousands of boats to dock.

"We're expecting heavy rains this afternoon and possible high waves," said the official, who refused to give her name as is common among Chinese bureaucrats. "Even though typhoons are common in our region, we are still taking precautionary safety measures."

In addition to Hainan, parts of Guangdong province and neighboring Guangxi region will see torrential rains over the next 24 hours as Conson moves toward the northwest at 9 to 13 mph (15 to 20 kph).

The storm should continue its northwest path inland over the weekend, heading toward southwest China and northern Vietnam.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged authorities in 23 northern and central provinces on Friday to ban ships and fishing trawlers from sailing. He also ordered local governments to evacuate people from high-risk areas and to advise others to stockpile food and medicine.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, in a nationally televised emergency meeting, scolded the weather bureau for failing to predict that Conson would hit Manila, which left government agencies unprepared for the onslaught.

On Thursday, the navy, coast guard and policemen recovered the bodies of 14 fishermen at Bataan province, west of Manila. Nine died when a wayward oil barge slammed into their boats, which were moored near Mariveles town, the coast guard said. The bodies of five other fishermen were found at sea off Bataan, where their boats sank.

Many parts of China have been pounded by storms this summer, though areas expected to be hit by Conson had not been seriously affected so far. Flooding and subsequent landslides in communities along the Yangtze River and other scattered parts of China have killed 135 people so far this month, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. Direct economic losses in July reached 26 billion yuan ($3.8 billion).

Conson was not expected to hit the areas in China already battered by weeks of flooding.

In Japan, police said landslides caused by heavy rains killed two people in Hiroshima while another was swept away in a swollen river. Eight people were missing across western and central Japan.

[Associated Press; By CHI-CHI ZHANG]

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Jay Alabaster in Tokyo and Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.