Taiwan under the eye of the typhoon

28 dead from China typhoon as new storm looms

Chinese authorities said Saturday that the death toll from Typhoon Meranti jumped to 28 in two hard-hit eastern provinces and warned that another typhoon — Malakas — is bearing down on the same region after an expected landfall Saturday evening in Taiwan.


Typhoon Meranti, the strongest storm to hit China this year, lashed a wide swath of the country's coastal areas, including Shanghai, with heavy rain and winds of up to 175 miles per hour. It struck Xiamen City, in Fujian province Thursday morning.
Fujian flood control authorities said 18 people died and 11 others were missing and 10 died and four were missing in neighboring Zhejiang province, the official Xinhua news agency reported. More than 900 houses collapsed in Zhejiang alone, as high winds and heavy rain slammed the area.
The news agency said Meranti paralyzed several cities in southern Fujian province, including Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.
Meanwhile, Taiwan, as well as the two mainland provinces, braced for the arrival of Malakas, which was expected to hit late Saturday, bringing gusts of up to 120 mph to Taipei, Chinese Central Television reported.