63 die in typhoon

The most powerful typhoon to hit China in seven years killed at least 63 people in the country’s southeast, injured more than 1,800 and knocked down thousands of homes.

Another 15 people were missing after Typhoon Rananim roared ashore yesterday in Zhejiang province, just south of Shanghai, with winds of more than 100 mph, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Rananim weakened to a tropical storm today as it moved west into inland Jiangxi province, bringing heavy rain to China’s central lakes region.

More than 42,000 houses were destroyed and tens of thousands more damaged, Xinhua said.

“Almost all the 63 deaths were caused by houses collapsing on them. Other deaths were caused by falling electricity poles and people falling into rivers,” said an official in the provincial capital of Hangzhou.

Rananim was the most powerful typhoon to strike China since 1997.

Authorities reportedly had evacuated 410,000 people from the storm’s path, many from rural villages where Xinhua said raging wind and rain destroyed 356,318 acres of crops and killed 31,000 head of livestock, along with large amounts of farmed aquatic products.