Typhoon Morakot news roundup

Despite weather reports that Typhoon Morakot would swing by our way (which triggered a rush of preparation for floods and damage) it... simply didn't. Yesterday was rainy and gross, but not any rainier and grosser than Shanghai weather normally tends to be. The same could not be said for other areas around Asia.

Below is a news round up of the havoc Typhoon Morakot has wreaked. It's hard not to feel kind of lucky it never came knocking.

• Close by, in Zhejiang, a landslide triggered by Morakot's torrential rain toppled at least half a dozen apartment buildings, burying an unknown number of residents. [Xinhua]
• Altogether, more than 8.8 million people in Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces were reported as affected by Morakot. 1.4 million were relocated, 6,000 houses were toppled and 387,300 hectares of farmland were drowned. [Rednet]
• Taiwan rescuers are still excavating a major mudslide in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, which may have buried around 600 people. [Reuters]
• 38 people are confirmed dead and 62 are confirmed missing in the rest of Taiwan as of 7am today. So far Morakot has caused agricultural losses of $154 million.[Bloomberg]
• In the Philippines, 21 people were killed and damages to roads, bridges and crops totaled about $750,000. [UPI]
• Japan's west coast was severely affected as well, as floods and landslides left at least 13 dead and another 10 reported missing (though this was the damage of Typhoon Etau). [Washington Post]

Photos from China Post and Xinhua