The fourth typhoon, Bilis, lashed south and east China and claimed 612 lives in southern China in mid July.

Prapiroon, which killed six people in the Philippines, is "as strong, if not stronger" than Bilis, said Gao Shuanzhu, a senior official at the China's national observatory, according to Xinhua.

Philippine authorities said two other people were missing following lightning storms and flooding caused by Prapiroon, which struck the country as a tropical storm. About 15,000 others were evacuated as parts of the northern Philippines remained inundated.

Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies issued a US$4.8 million (euro3.8 million) appeal to provide food, tents, and quilts for 240,000 people left homeless by floods unleashed by typhoon downpours.

This year's typhoon season started unusually early and storms have already killed more than 1,460 people, mainly in the densely populated southeastern provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiangxi.

Chinese officials estimate more than 1 million houses have been damaged and millions of hectares (acres) of farmland and forests destroyed.