Typhoon leaves 9 dead, 3 missing in China

BEIJING

At least nine people have been left dead and another 3 missing after a typhoon battered through eastern China, according to local authorities Sunday.

The flood control and drought relief headquarters of Zhejiang province said the victims may have been buried beneath collapsed houses or swept away by floods as heavy rains resulted in mudslides and cave-ins in rural parts of Wenzhou city.

Typhoon Soudelor -- the thirteenth to hit China this year – made landfall in southeastern Fujian province Saturday night after leaving at least six people dead, four missing and 102 injured in Taiwan. It then moved northward to the neighboring provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

State news agency Xinhua also cited officials as saying that Wenzhou’s Wencheng county experienced its heaviest downpour in a hundred years, measuring 645 millimeters in 24 hours.

The direct economic loss was recorded at 248 million yuan (almost $40 million) in Wenzhou, where a total of 221,900 residents have been affected.

According to State Grid Fujian Electric Power Co., the storm affected the power supply of more than two million households, before being restored at 630,000 of them Sunday morning.

The agency also reported that three airports in Fujian were temporarily closed, resulting in the cancelation of more than 530 flights.

A total of 191 high-speed trains were also canceled while six expressways were closed.