The strongest typhoon to hit China this year has killed at least 45 people, state-media reported on Monday, as authorities stepped up rescue efforts to locate 16 missing people after the storm displaced more than a million residents. Lekima, the ninth typhoon, hit Wenling city on Saturday afternoon, packing winds of 187 kilometers per hour and bringing heavy rainstorms.
The typhoon has left 45 people dead and 16 missing in three Chinese provinces, wreaking havoc there with torrential rains and strong gales, Xinhua news agency reported. In the Zhejiang Province, Lekima landed at around 1:45 am (local time) on Saturday in the city of Wenling.
By Monday morning, the death toll in the province rose to 39 while nine others remained missing, said the Zhejiang provincial flood control headquarters, the report said.
The typhoon has affected 6.68 million residents in Zhejiang, among whom 1.26 million were evacuated. It damaged 234,000 hectares of crops, inflicting a direct economic loss of 24.22 billion yuan (about USD 3.4 billion), it said.