At least 18 people have been killed and another 14 were missing in eastern China in a landslide triggered by a major typhoon on Saturday, Al Jazeera reported citing state broadcaster CCTV.
Typhoon Lekima made landfall in the early hours of Saturday in Wenling city, and made its way north towards China’s financial capital Shanghai. China’s weather bureau on Saturday issued an orange alert, its second highest, after posting a red alert on Friday, Reuters reported.
According to local authorities, the typhoon reportedly downed thousands of trees and forced more than a million people to evacuate their homes. It also triggered landslide and floods in China’s Yongjia County in Zhejian.
The storm caused widespread transport disruptions and thousands of flights were cancelled in eastern China. Nearly 200 trains through the city of Jinan in Shandong province had been suspended until Monday, Reuters reported citing Xinhua news agency.
More than 250,000 residents in Shanghai and 800,000 in Zhejiang province had been evacuated because of the typhoon. Power blackouts affected about 2.72 million households in Zhejiang as strong wind and rain downed electricity transmission lines.
The storm also led to the collapse of some 200 houses in six cities in Zhejiang and destroyed 66,300 hectares (163,830 acres) of farmland.
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