Typhoon Morakot has killed two more people on the Chinese mainland in less than 24 hours starting from Monday evening, putting the total death toll at eight, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Tuesday.
The two new deaths were both reported in southeastern China's Fujian Province. No details are currently available.
A total of six people - four in Zhejiang Province, one in Jiangxi Province and one in Fujian - had previously been reported killed by Morakot as of 7 p.m. Monday. Another three people were reported missing.
The ministry said more than 11 million people in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces had been affected by Morakot since its powerful landing in east China Sunday. Some 1.57 million had been relocated as of Tuesday.
It toppled more than 10,000 houses and inundated 449,600 hectares of cropland, the ministry said. Direct economic losses have amounted up to 9.7 billion yuan (about US$1.4 billion), it said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Morakot had moved into the Yellow Sea, and it would gradually become less threatening to coast provinces in east China, said the ministry.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2009)
