Death toll rises as Typhoon Lekima moves up China coast

The death toll from Typhoon Lekima in China rose to 44 with several others missing, local authorities say.

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

State broadcaster CCTV had put the death toll at 32 on Sunday.

Typhoon Lekima made landfall early on Saturday in China’s Zhejiang province, with winds gusting up to 187 kmh (116 mph). The center of the storm has since traveled north through Shandong and off the coast.

Many of the earlier deaths occurred when a natural dam collapsed in Zhejiang after a deluge of 160 mm (6.2 inches) of rain within three hours.

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

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.

More than 3,200 flights have been cancelled due to the typhoon with Shanghai, Beijing and other cities grounding planes.

Lekima is the ninth typhoon to hit China so far this year.

Weather experts quoted by Xinhua news agency said it was among the top three strongest typhoons to have ever hit Zhejiang.

It was initially given China's highest level of weather warning but was later downgraded to an "orange" level.

Lekima is one of two typhoons in the western Pacific at the moment.

Further east, Typhoon Krosa is spreading heavy rain across the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. It is moving north-west and could strike Japan some time next week, forecasters said.