Xiaomeisha rejuvenated after typhoon

A view of Xiaomeisha Beach during the Spring Festival Hoilday. Photos by Yang Mei

Xiaomeisha Beach Park has seen the number of visitors double in the two months since it was reopened Dec. 1.

During the Spring Festival holiday, 115,000 people visited Xiaomeisha Tourism Resort in seven days. The park was hit hard by Mangkut last September and was closed for 77 days for renovation. It had planned to reopen this May.

The typhoon delivered waves that were 7-8 meters high and intensively impacted the Xiaomeisha beach for nearly six hours. The 2,000-meter-long bay dam was damaged, service facilities caved in and the sand on the beach was washed away. More than 100 30-year-old trees were uprooted.

The park reportedly suffered 50 million yuan (US$7.44 million) in damages.

After Mangkhut passed, the park management hired six engineering teams, and in three months, 130 tons of garbage on the ground and 1,000 cubic meters of waste, including stones and structural materials, that had been washed to the seabed was cleared. The park management has refined the sand on the 4,000-square-meter beach six times.

The beach management is now inviting biddings to turn the beach area into an international-level coastal tourism resort.