Typhoon Lekima leaves 44 dead, 16 missing in China (UPDATED)

Typhoon Lekima has left 44 dead and 16 missing in two Chinese provinces, wreaking havoc there with torrential rains and strong gales, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

By Monday morning, the death toll in Zhejiang Province has risen to 39 while nine others remained missing, said the Zhejiang provincial flood control headquarters.

The ninth and strongest typhoon of the year 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 3.4 billion U.S. dollars).

Lekima landed at around 1:45 a.m. Saturday in the city of Wenling in Zhejiang. It made a second landing at 8:50 p.m. Sunday on the coast of Qingdao in Shandong Province.

In Shandong, it has left five people 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.

07:19 (GMT+4) Typhoon Lekima has left five people dead and seven missing after making landfall in the coastal areas of east China's Shandong Province Sunday night, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The typhoon has inflicted losses in 79 county-level areas in Shandong, affecting 1.66 million people and forcing the relocation of 183,800, said the provincial emergency management department.

Heavy rains and strong gales have damaged 175,400 hectares of crops and toppled 609 houses, inflicting a direct economic loss of 1.48 billion yuan (211 million U.S. dollars), it said.

The disastrous weather is not yet over, and the rescue and relief work is underway.