AlQa'dah 4, 1432, Oct 2, 2011, SPA -- The death toll in the floods caused by Nesat rose to four on Sunday in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as the typhoon continued to wreak havoc, local authorities said on Sunday. By 4 p.m., 2.48 million of people were affected by the typhoon in the region's eight cities and 37 counties, and over 140,000 were evacuated, Xinhua quoted to the region's civil affairs department as saying. More than 2,700 houses were toppled, with another 7,800 damaged. About 311,000 hectares of crops were soaked. Direct economic losses exceeded 1.6 billion yuan (251 million U.S. dollars), the department said. Water from heavy downpours brought by Nesat has entered major river courses in the region, and the water levels of five rivers in the region had exceeded danger marks by Sunday morning, local flood control and drought relief headquarters said. In the city of Qinzhou, the Qinjiang River edged over an embankment that protects a riverside park, submerging roads and bushes. The headquarters warned that flooding is expected to crest on Monday morning, putting the water level at 1.2 meters above the danger mark in Qinzhou. In the city of Beihai, rainfall and lightning over the past two days have severely damaged airport facilities. The typhoon also damaged power supply facilities in the island province of Hainan, affecting over 500,000 residents. By Sunday, power supply in cities and towns had been restored, but electricity in rural areas will not completely resume until Tuesday, according to the provincial power supply company. More rains will pound the region as another typhoon, Nalgae, is expected to affect Guangxi on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to local weather forecast.
