A school student was killed by a falling wall in Guangzhou on Monday during stormy weather that played havoc in the southern province of Guangdong from Sunday, causing heavy financial losses.

 

The boy was trapped after a wall collapsed in Shuanggang Village in Baiyun District at 7 PM after it was dislodged by heavy rain. He died in hospital later that night.

 

Hail damaged and destroyed property in the districts of Panyu, Huadu and in Conghua City.

 

Taiping Township in Conghua received 108 millimeters of rain from midnight to 1 AM on Monday, costing an estimated 23.8 million yuan (US$2.9 million) in damages.

 

Huadu’s 50 villages were also hit, an area including 190 hectares of farmland.

 

A strong gale in Panyu District started at 4 PM Monday and lasted 20 minutes, pulling up a 15-meter-long power pole that hit a farmhouse roof, leaving a big crack in the wall. The neighborhood roofs were all blown away.

 

Torrential rain also flooded many roads in the district on Monday, causing blackouts, road blocks and air flight delays.

 

The underground power-supply room of Baiyun District’s court building was flooded with water at about 8:30 PM Monday and power was cut to the building.

 

The bad weather delayed the arrival and departure of more than 30 flights.

 

Guangzhou recorded an average of 99.3 millimeters of rainfall by 8 PM on Monday.

 

Another building collapse on Tuesday in Yanji, a city in northeast China's Jilin Province, killed two people, left two missing and seven others injured, according to local police.

 

The accident occurred at 10:55 AM when construction workers were repairing an old building on Juzi Street.

 

Rescuers are searching for the two missing workers buried in the ruins and the cause of the accident is under investigation.

 

(Shenzhen Daily, Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2005)