Most coal mines suspended mining operations on August 11 in eastern China's Shandong province to ensure safety during the transit of typhoon Lekima to the province, said the provincial coal mine safety administration.
As of August 11 morning, a total of 21,757 underground workers were withdrawn from 106 mines, the administration said.
In the afternoon of August 10, it started raining in Shandong. Zhubai coal mine, one subsidiary of Shandong Energy in Linyin city, halted operation when the rainfall rose to 50mm. With heavier rainfalls, all other mines from southern to northern province were withdrawing workers.
At 21:30 p.m., when the province raised the rainstorm alert from orange level to red, the administration urged all mines to stop operation.
Weather forecast said heavy rains would last until the evening of August 12 in most cities of the province. Extraordinary rainstorms might break out in some areas.
According to data as of June 30, Shandong has 110 coal mines in total, with combined capacity of 150.73 million tonnes per annum. Its annual production is around 400 million tonnes.
On August 10, the ninth typhoon this year, the strongest typhoon of 2019 in China, landed on the coast of Wenling, Zhejiang province. By the noon of August 11, Lekima has caused 30 dead, 18 missing and 1.2 million resettled, and direct economic loss has reached up to more than 15.75 billion yuan.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Tammy Yang)
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