Typhoon Lekima death toll in eastern China rises to 44

With the death of 11 more people, the toll from typhoon Lekima in eastern China rose to 44 on Monday, as rescue efforts were underway to locate the missing people after the storm displaced more than a million residents, state-media reported.

Lekima, the ninth typhoon and the strongest this year, hit Wenling city on Saturday afternoon, packing winds of 187 kilometers per hour and bringing heavy rainstorms.

The typhoon has left 44 people dead and 16 missing in two 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.

Lekima hit the Shandong province later on Sunday at 8:50 pm (local time) on the coast of Qingdao.

In Shandong, it has left five persons dead and seven missing, affecting 1.66 million people and forcing the relocation of 183,800 as of Monday morning, said the provincial emergency management department.

Most of the deaths occurred in Yongjia County, administered by Wenzhou City, where torrential downpours caused a landslide that blocked a river.

Over 16 civilian rescue teams have volunteered to rescue stranded residents in Linhai, local authorities said.

Rescue workers have been using boats and rope pulleys to help stranded residents.

Around 3,200 flights have been cancelled due to the typhoon, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

With the typhoon sweeping through Shanghai, about 253,000 people in the city had to be evacuated to safe places, Shanghai flood control authorities said.