At least 98 people have died and many are still missing after Typhoon Saomai, the strongest in 50 years, hit eastern China. With wind speeds of 216km per hour it reduced many houses to rubble and left 48 dead people in Cangnan County, where it first struck. Around 20,000 soldiers were sent to the eastern border to assist in the rescue and relief efforts. 8 Taiwanese sailors and 4 Chinese fishermen were also rescued after their vessels capsized.

According to Chinas official news agency, around one million people were relocated from the densely populated Zhejiang province. Another 620,000 were evacuated from Fuding in the neighboring province of Fujian, where 2 people were reported dead and 12 missing. A state of emergency was declared in the greater Wenzhou area, which is home to 7.4 million people. Economic losses in Wenzhou are estimated at 2.3billion yuan, or $288 million USD.

The typhoon also killed at least two people in the Philippines and brought heavy rain to Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights. Although Saomai was graded as a maximum-category five “super” typhoon, it lessened to a category four as it reached land, putting it in the same category as Hurricane Katrina. Saomai ranks as the eighth storm to hit China this year, the worst being tropical storm Bilis, which killed over 600 last month.

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