Typhoon Imbudo killed at least four people and injured 16 others when it struck south China's Guangdong Province yesterday.

Imbudo first slammed into the cities of Zhanjiang and Maoming on the western coast of Guangdong at about 10 am yesterday.

The Guangdong Provincial Flood-Control Headquarters said Imbudo had destroyed many coastal dykes and reservoirs on the Leizhou Peninsula.

Many cities and counties in western coastal Guangdong were flooded. Scores of houses were destroyed or damaged, and electricity and water supplies were cut in some flood-hit areas.

More than 1 million people were affected by Imbudo, the seventh typhoon to hit Chinese coastal areas this year.

Twenty-two people aboard a ferry en route from Hong Kong to Macao were injured yesterday afternoon as the boat wallowed through the rough sea affected by Imbudo. All of the injured were adults, 18 passengers and four crew members.

In Chuanbu town in the city of Luoding, at least three people were killed while 12 others were injured in the storm.

Many houses in Luoding were destroyed or damaged by the tornado. The storms killed numerous sheep, ducks, chickens and cattle in the city.

In the city of Lianjiang, more than 6,000 chickens on a local farm were killed when the chicken shacks collapsed due to the storms and heavy rain.

At least 50 families were made homeless after their houses were destroyed and collapsed in Lianjiang.

One person was killed in Enping, a coastal city in western Guangdong.

The coastal cities of Maoming, Yangjiang and Zhanjiang were hardest-hit by Imbudo.

Many trees and advertising hoardings in the centers of these cities were blown down by the strong winds accompanying Imbudo.

Many crops and water-conservation facilities in the three cities were damaged.

Local governments were last night still counting the number of casualties, as well as the economic losses.

The ferry services between Guangzhou and Hong Kong and between Zhuhai and Hong Kong were suspended yesterday.

The Guangdong provincial government yesterday sent two relief teams to the typhoon-hit areas to help local victims rebuild their homes and restore production as soon as possible.

Guangdong Communist Party Secretary Zhang Dejiang and Governor Huang Huahua urged local governments to do what they can to help rescue flood victims, try to reduce the number of deaths and injuries and minimize the economic losses.

Most cities and counties in the west of the Pearl River Delta experienced rainfall of more than 120 millimeters yesterday.

Guangdong's provincial capital Guangzhou was hit by heavy rain yesterday, as were the Shenzhen and Zhuhai special economic zones that border Hong Kong and Macao.

The Dongshan, Liuhua, Liwan and Luhu artificial lakes in central Guangzhou had to release flood water yesterday.

All the kindergartens in Guangzhou were told to suspend classes yesterday.

But the heavy rainfall did help ease the drought that the region had experienced and cool down the heatwave.

(China Daily July 25, 2003)