FUZHOU -- The death toll from typhoon Saomai had risen to 255 in China by 2 p.m. Monday, with another 41 bodies discovered in Fuding city in east China's Fujian Province.

Over 160 others are still missing after Saomai wrought havoc in the eastern provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

Distraught relatives and rescuers carry the body of a villager dug out from rubble in Jinxiang Township, Cangnan County in Zhejiang Province, August 11, 2006.  The reported death toll in China from Typhoon Saomai jumped to at least 214, after authorities in southeastern Fujian province said the number of fatalities there had increased to 125. [Xinhua]

In Fuding, the worst hit city in Fujian, 138 people were killed, 1,350 injured and 86 others still missing.

Officials with Fujian Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said most of the people were killed when the super strong typhoon broke the moorings on their ships which had sought shelter in the harbor.

The others were killed in typhoon-triggered incidents on land such as flood, landslide and mud-flow.

Local authorities and residents are still searching for the missing.

The Fuding death toll update brings total fatalities in Fujian to a staggering 166.

"Saomai has caused severe economic losses and fatalities in our province," the Fujian provincial government's water resources department said in a statement posted on its website.

Previous reports listed 87 dead and 52 missing in east China's Zhejiang Province where Saomai barreled in, and two dead and one missing in nearby Jiangxi Province.

Saomai, the eighth typhoon to hit China so far this summer, was the most powerful to strike the mainland in half a century.

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