Typhoon Saomai weakens but leaves at least a hundred dead

Dark clouds from Typhoon Saomai, which weakened yesterday to a tropical depression, cast a shadow over Fuzhou, the capital of the southeast China province of Fujian. The fading typhoon, which had been the strongest storm to strike China in 50 years, drenched the South as it moved inland — and is forecast to continue doing so over the weekend.

It has killed at least 104 people, blacked out cities and wrecked 50,000 houses. Another 190 people were missing after the typhoon had battered areas from which more than 1.6 million people had been evacuated. Hardest-hit was Wenzhou, a coastal city in which at least 81 people were killed as gusts reached 170mph. In Cangnan County, on the outskirts of Wenzhou, 43 bodies, including those of 8 children, were found in the debris of houses that had collapsed after they sought shelter.

from the Times Online (UK)