Typhoon Soudelor Kills at Least 9 in China After Lashing Taiwan, Killing 5

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At least nine people were killed in China’s eastern Zhejiang province as the remnants of Typhoon Soudelor dumped the heaviest rainfall in a century on the mainland after killing five in Taiwan.

About 645 millimeters (25 inches) of rain fell on Zhejiang’s Wenzhou city and prompted authorities to issue their second-highest rainstorm warning Sunday, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing local officials. The surrounding area reported nine dead and three missing after the deluge caused mudslides and floods and washed away houses, Xinhua said.

Soudelor made landfall in Putian County in the southeastern province of Fujian around 10 p.m. on Saturday after battering Taiwan, where almost 3.5 million homes had experienced power disruptions. The cyclone weakened over land and was classified a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 65kph (40 mph) as of 2 p.m. Sunday, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

In Fujian, the storm caused power outages for more than 2 million households while three airports were closed and more than 530 flights canceled, Xinhua said. About 163,000 people had been evacuated from coastal areas.

Soudelor is the fourth typhoon to trigger sea or land warnings in Taiwan this year and made landfall on the sixth anniversary of Typhoon Morakot, which killed 600 people. Storm warnings on the island had been lifted by Sunday morning, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. About 310,000 households remained without power as of 3 p.m.

Taiwanese authorities revised the storm’s death toll to five from six after determining one of the fatalities was not weather related, the Central News Agency reported, citing the Central Emergency Operation Center. Five more people remained missing and 185 injured.