CHINA: The worst typhoon to hit China since 1997 has killed at least 147 people, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday.
Another 40 people are still missing, it said, and some 1,800 have been injured.
More than 9.83 million people have been affected by Typhoon Rananim, which battered eastern China with torrential rain and gale-force winds.
The typhoon caused over 16.4 billion yuan ($2 billion) in direct economic losses, Xinhua said.
The storm hit China's coast last week, causing widespread damage in the rice-growing province and knocking down more than 430,000 buildings, the agency quoted the State Flood Prevention and Drought Control Headquarters as saying. Officials and residents had said the storm was the worst since 1997.
Typhoon Rananim hit the coast late on Thursday. Most injuries were caused by collapsing homes.
Officials evacuated more than 460,000 people from coastal areas of Zhejiang province to escape the storm. "This is the strongest typhoon since 1997," said an official of the provincial civil affairs bureau. "Lots of trees and electricity pylons were toppled."
In 1997, nearly 250 people died when typhoon Winnie struck the coast, causing 19.8 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in economic losses.
Rananim brought torrential rains and winds exceeding 100 m.p.h. The eye of the storm made landfall on Thursday near the town of Wenling.
"Shop signboards were flying out and hit people's arms and legs like knives," said a doctor at the No 1 People's Hospital in Wenling. "The wind was really very, very strong and we have rarely seen this." Some of those in hospital were in critical condition, he said.
The Zhejiang government had requested aid from the central government to deal with the disaster, a local official said.
Direct economic losses were estimated at 15.33 billion yuan ($1.85 billion) and 271,00 hectares (677,500 acres) of crops had been damaged, the Civil Affairs Ministry said.
Mud flows, landslides and storm tides along the coast were all dangers, Xinhua quoted Gao Shuanzhu, chief forecaster at the Central Meteorological Station, as saying.
The typhoon clipped northern Taiwan, causing the island to suspend ship refuelling and to cancel some domestic flights.
Last month, severe floods triggered by Typhoon Mindulle killed at least 22 people in central and southern Taiwan, with another 14 people missing and feared dead. Agricultural damage was estimated at T$4.6 billion (US$135 million).
In 2001, one of Taiwan's deadliest years for storms, Typhoon Toraji killed 200 people. A few months later, Typhoon Nari caused Taipei's worst flooding on record and killed 100 people.