Typhoon Soudelor kills 12 in China: state media

Agency says about 1.36 million people in the city are affected by the typhoon

BEIJING: Typhoon Soudelor killed 12 people in eastern China and five are missing after parts of the country were hit by the heaviest rains in a century, state media reported on Sunday.

The casualties were reported in and around Wenzhou city in the province of Zhejiang, where downpours caused mudslides and several houses collapsed on Saturday night, Xinhua news agency reported.

It quoted local disaster relief officials as saying the dead and missing may have been washed away by floods or buried under ruined homes.

About 1.36 million people in the city were affected by the typhoon, the agency said, estimating direct economic losses at $617 million.

Read: Typhoon lashes China after more than a million people evacuated

Nearby Wencheng county saw downpours of 645 millimetres in 24 hours – the heaviest in 100 years – after the typhoon made landfall on Saturday night, it said.

The storm had landed in Fujian province and cut power to more than three million homes there, Xinhua said, but more than a third had electricity restored by Sunday morning.

This photo taken on August 8, 2015 shows machinery over choppy waters as Typhoon Soudelor brought heavy rain to Ningde, eastern China's Fujian province. A weakened Typhoon Soudelor made landfall in China and was set to be downgraded on August 9, according to the National Meteorological Center, after the storm killed five people in Taiwan. PHOTO: AFP

Billed as the biggest typhoon of the year last week with winds of up to 230 kilometres an hour, Soudelor – named after a legendary Micronesian chief – has since weakened.

China's National Meteorological Center forecast the typhoon would be downgraded to a tropical depression by Sunday night as it moved further inland.

Soudelor left six people dead in Taiwan, where it ripped up trees and triggered landslides, damaging electricity lines and knocking out power to a record four million households.

Almost half a million homes were still without power Sunday, Taiwan Power Co. said, as blocked roads hampered efforts to restore supplies in some areas.

Read: Typhoon Soudelor churns towards China after killing five in Taiwan

Taiwan's death toll rose to six after an eight-year-old girl who went missing Thursday after being swept out to sea with her mother and twin sister was found dead.

Her mother and sister, caught in the strong waves on the east coast, were the first victims of the typhoon.

Some 379 people were injured by the storm in Taiwan, which saw rivers break their banks under torrential rain and towering waves pound the coastline.

Taiwan lifted its typhoon warning Sunday, but the weather bureau warned of further heavy rain in the south.