Twenty-nine people have died and 14 are missing after Typhoon Sepat left a trail of destruction in east China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, local flood control headquarters reported yesterday.

The latest casualty is from Yongfeng County in Jiangxi Province, where Sepat hit at 2:30 AM yesterday.

Sepat landed in Fujian at 2am on Sunday, spawning rainstorms that continued yesterday. The ninth typhoon of the year brought an average 200 millimeters of rainfall to most counties in the province since Friday. Jiaocheng, the worst-hit county, received 490 millimeters of rain.

But it left a trail of chaos including landslides that killed 15 people and left 11 missing in Fujian as of late yesterday.

Sepat also caused 13 deaths and left three missing in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, including 11 deaths from a tornado that smashed 156 houses on Saturday.

On Sunday, a landslide triggered by the downpours hit a minibus in Wenzhou, killing one of its 19 passengers. One woman was found dead in the debris of her house the same day.

More than 200 cities and counties across Jiangxi are suffering torrential rain and high winds. By 8pm, the worst-hit county of Yongfeng had received 399mm of rain.

The typhoon has affected 150,000 people, destroyed 1,016 houses and caused an economic loss of 134 million yuan (US$17.9 million) in the province.

The local meteorological bureau predicts Sepat will linger in the province for another 48 hours.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2007)