Typhoon Soudelor kills 17 in east China

Typhoon Soudelor, the 13th this year, has left 17 people dead and five missing, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said Monday.

More than 3 million people and 110,000 hectares of crops in the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi in east China were affected by the typhoon, with direct economic losses estimated at 8.73 billion yuan (1.43 billion U.S. dollars), the headquarters said.

Soudelor was the most violent typhoon to hit Fujian in a decade, with torrential rain and gale-force winds destroying houses and causing landslides and floods, local officials said.

In Ningde City, three people were killed in a landslide and a village official was swept away by floodwaters on Sunday, the provincial flood control and drought relief office said.

The province has evacuated 513,900 people. The office said 3,000 houses were destroyed and 57,610 hectares of crops damaged, and direct economic losses could be in excess of 4 billion yuan, the office said.

In eastern Anhui Province, over 550,000 people and 19,600 hectares of crops were affected, 562 houses collapsed and 1,194 were damaged, according to the provincial civil affairs department.

Direct economic losses totaled 560 million yuan, according to the department.

The typhoon also left 14 people dead and four missing in neighboring Zhejiang Province, local authorities said Sunday.

After pounding Taiwan and leaving six people dead, Soudelor landed in Fujian's Putian County on Saturday night before moving to neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces.

The typhoon is expected to continue northeast at about 20 kilometers per hour from Anhui and may bring heavy rain to Jiangsu, Anhui, north Zhejiang, east Hubei and Shanghai.