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Death toll from Typhoon Fanapi rises to 55 in south China

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Floods, landslides and heavy downpours brought by typhoon Fanapi had claimed 55 lives in south China's Guangdong Province, while another 42 were still missing, local authorities said Thursday.

An elderly carrying a baby on the back walks in Qianpai Town in Xinyi, south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 22, 2010. Flooding and landslides caused by Typhoon Fanabi have left 18 people dead and at least 44 still missing, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Wednesday. [Chen Yehua/Xinhua]

Meanwhile, more than 1.26 million people were affected and 98,000 in low-lying areas were forced to be evacuated, a spokesman with the provincial civil affairs department said.

Rainstorms and and geological disasters had destroyed more than 4,200 homes and inundated more than 48,700 hectares of cropland, the spokesman said.

Direct economic losses were estimated at more than 2 billion yuan (300 million U.S. dollars), he said.

Tonnes of relief supplies, such as tents, clothes, quilts, bottled water and rice, have been dispatched to the disaster-hit areas.

Helicopters were used Thursday to airdrop relief materials to victims.

Typhoon Fanapi, the 11th and strongest typhoon that hit China this year, landed in Fujian Province at 7 a.m. Monday, but wreaked most havoc in Guangdong, which neighbors Fujian on the south.

No casualties have been reported in Fujian.

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