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Toll rises as typhoon moves up China coast

12 August 2019 00:41 (UTC +04:00)

The death toll from Typhoon Lekima in China has risen to 32 with another 16 people missing, local authorities say, APA reports citing BBC.

Officials say about five million people in Zhejiang province have been affected, with over one million evacuated to safe spaces.

Lekima made landfall in the early hours of Saturday in Wenling, between Taiwan and China's financial capital Shanghai, packing strong winds and heavy rain.

It was moving further north up the east coast on Sunday.

Most of the deaths were in the city of Wenzhou where torrential downpours caused a landslide, state media said.

The landslide occurred after a barrier lake - or natural dam - formed, pooling water from the heavy rains before collapsing.

Emergency crews battled to save stranded motorists from floods and searched for survivors in the rubble of damaged buildings.

In Zhejiang province, Lekima damaged crops and 34,000 houses. The direct economic loss amounts to 14.57 billion yuan (£1.7 billion), state media said.