BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2019) The death toll from China's super typhoon Lekima, which hit the east of the country over the weekend, has climbed to 43, while 17 people are unaccounted for, China Central Television reported on Monday.
Earlier, 32 people were reported to have been killed as a result of the disaster, with 16 more missing.
According to the fresh data, 38 people were killed in the coastal province of Zhejiang, with 10 more unaccounted for.
The victims were mainly from the Yongjia county of the city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, where a landslide blocked a local river, causing flooding. The disaster has forced the authorities to evacuate over a million people from the province. The direct economic damage from the typhoon, which flooded more than 173,000 hectares (427,000 acres) of agricultural land in the province, is estimated at about $2.1 billion.
Five other fatalities are recorded in Shandong, a province that the typhoon reached on Sunday evening. Seven people went missing in the province. Over 180,000 local residents have already been evacuated.
The ninth typhoon to rock China this year reached the coast of Zhejiang province at 1:45 a.m. on Saturday (17:45 GMT on Friday). Maximum wind speeds in the area have achieved 52 meters per second (171 feet per second). Early on Friday, China's meteorological service issued the highest "red" alert level over the typhoon.
