The most powerful typhoon to hit China in seven years roared inland today after killing 115 people and injuring more than 1,800 others along the coast and leaving a path of destruction though farms, towns and fishing ports.
Typhoon Rananim weakened to a tropical storm after crossing into Jiangxi province, where it brought heavy rain to China's central lakes region, meteorologists said.
Sixteen people were missing in Zhejiang province, just south of Shanghai, where the typhoon made landfall Thursday night with winds of more than 100 mph, China Central Television reported.
More than 1,800 people were injured, 185 of them seriously, while 42,000 houses were destroyed and tens of thousands more were damaged, various government reports said.
Television and newspaper pictures showed people caught in the open crouching low to avoid being blown over by gales and flying rain. In the city of Wenzhou, two grabbed at a canvas-topped bicycle taxi that had been blown into the air.