Typhoon Prapiroon killed at least 31 people and left 14 others missing after crashing ashore in southern China, state media reported Saturday, announcing the latest casualty figures.
Around 3.7 million people in Guangdong province alone were affected by the sixth typhoon to ravage China this year, Xinhua news agency said, quoting local flood control authorities.
Although it was downgraded to a tropical storm early Friday, Prapiroon was responsible for the collapse of 7,000 buildings in Guangdong, with initial economic losses set at 2.4 billion yuan (300 million dollars) in the province, it said.
Meanwhile, Guangdong-based Information Times newspaper reported Saturday that two tornados hit Nanhai city, tearing off factory roofs, knocking down trees and killing nine people.
It was unclear however whether the deaths on Friday were included in the latest tally of 31.
The fatalities were reported in different cities in Guangdong as relentless rains and gusting winds battered coastal cities in the south of the province after Prapiroon made landfall near Yangjiang city late Thursday.
It moved inland in a northwest direction towards Guangxi region early Friday, where at least one person perished in a landslide, according to earlier reports.
More than six million people were affected by the typhoon across the southern provinces and regions of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan, with 534,000 people evacuated, reports said.
