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98 die as Typhoon Saomai lashes China

2.1 million people affected

PHOTO: AP

WREAKING HAVOC: A woman stands among the debris after her house was struck by Typhoon Saomai in Heweiyang village in China's Zhejiang province on Friday.

HANGZHOU (CHINA): Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to hit China in 50 years, has left at least 98 persons dead and 149 missing in the east of the country, according to local government sources.

Eighty-one of the dead and 11 of the missing were in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, where 2.1 million people were affected and 18,000 houses were destroyed, said the civil affairs bureau of Wenzhou on Friday.

Saomai, the eighth typhoon to hit China, landed in Cangnan county of Wenzhou city on Thursday with wind speeds up to 216 kmph, bringing torrential rains and strong winds.

In Jinxiang town of Cangnan, the bodies of 43 persons, including eight children, have been retrieved from the rubble of collapsed houses, where they had sought shelter from rains and high winds. Losses exceeded 4.5 billion yuan ($562 million) in Wenzhou.

Emergency relief materials, including quilts and medicine, were sent on Friday to Cangnan from Hangzhou, the provincial capital, said the provincial Red Cross Society. Typhoon Saomai also brought heavy rains and winds of up to 270 kmph in coastal and inland areas of neighbouring Fujian Province. Rainfall in parts of the province exceeded 200 mm in 24 hours, according to the provincial meteorological observatory.

Two persons died in Fuding city, the provincial flood control authorities said.

Twelve persons in two vessels from Taiwan and a fishing boat from Fujian have been rescued by local maritime workers, said the provincial flood control office. — Xinhua

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