Search for victims as typhoon sweeps away soldiers

China’s president called today for an all-out search for victims of Typhoon Longwang, including 59 soldiers swept away by raging floodwaters.

The typhoon slammed into China’s south east coast late on Sunday night, packing winds of 74mph. It was downgraded yesterday 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 last 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.

Confirmed deaths – not including the missing soldiers – stood at 15, Fujian’s anti-flood headquarters reported on its website.

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 harbour and closing tourist sites.

As the storm churned inland, it destroyed 5,400 homes in Fujian and wiped out 31,000 acres of crops, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

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 raining lightly in parts of Fujian today and top wind speeds had slowed to 45mph, 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.