Typhoon Nepartak leaves 6 dead, 8 missing in east China

Photo taken on July 10, 2016 shows a messy road after flood in Minqing County, southeast China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)

Six people were killed and eight others remain missing after Typhoon Nepartak made landfall and swept through east China's Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, authorities said Sunday.

As of 5 p.m., 203,000 residents in ten cities had been temporarily relocated as the typhoon destroyed close to 1,900 houses, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on late Sunday. A total of 449,000 people were affected.

Nearly 15,800 hectares of crops were damaged by the typhoon, of which 1,600 hectares were totally destroyed.

Direct economic losses were estimated at 860 million yuan (about 128.7 million U.S. dollars).

Earlier reports said Nepartak made first landfall early on Friday in eastern Taiwan, packing winds of up to 190 km per hour, gusting up to 234 km per hour.

It landed in Fujian province on Saturday afternoon and faded into a tropical depression early on Sunday.

But meteorological authorities say rainfalls are forecast to continue in Fujian and in provinces including Jiangxi and Zhejiang, bringing more risks to the already-weather battered area.