Never before in history has a small town Shachen been so greatly destroyed . It was four o'clock August 10th. All of a sudden, the weather became much darker and darker. A violent typhoon Sanmei swept across our hometown. Some houses were destroyed, thousands of tiles flew like bullets in the dark sky. Many trees were pulled out, so the roads were covered with many leaves and branches. But a great many  fishing rafts remained safe, so did plenty of fishing boats. During a short break in typhoon, Out at sea it was calm, no wind came up. A lot of fish keepers thought the typhoon was at an end. So they hired some fishing boats to see whether their fishing rafts were all right or not. Unexpectedly, the wind staged a comeback and blew more violently. A great many fishing rafts disappeared in a short time. Some people were swimming to safe places and survived by using the passing floats while some people died without immediate rescue. As a result, our town economic losses caused by the disaster were serious.

all of a sudden: 突然

bullet: 子弹

branch: 树枝

fishing raft: 渔排

stage a comeback: 卷土重来

float: 浮

economic: 经济的

disaster: 灾难

All hope was not lost, The government sent rescue teams to search the sea for the lost people, meanwhile people were busy burying the dead. The number of people who were killed reached more than 150. Workers built shelters for survivors whose home had been destroyed. Leaders from the China Central Government, who were concerned about people's life, came andexpressed sympathy and solicitude for the people of severely afflicted area. Fresh water、vegetables、rice、noodles were taken to the town by bus and boat. Slowly the town began to breathe again.

meanwhile: 同时

sympathy: 同情

solicitude: 关心、切望

severely: 严重的、严历的

afflict: 痛苦

tile: 瓦

survive: 幸存