Typhoon Mujigae kills 11 in South China, cuts off power

Photo taken on Oct.5, 2015 shows a plant building destroyed by tornado at Lecong Township of Foshan City, south China's Guangdong Province.[Photo/Xinhua]

GUANGZHOU - At least 11 people were killed and another 243 injured when Typhoon Mujigae made a surprise landing in southern China since Sunday.

In Guangdong, ten people were killed and four others went missing, while one was killed in neighboring Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, according to their provincial civil affairs departments.

In addition, tornadoes triggered by the typhoon damaged houses and destroyed other infrastructure in Guangzhou, Guangdong's provincial capital, and Foshan.

In neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, one person was killed after being hit by a fallen tree in Nanning, the region's capital city.

The typhoon has affected 3.16 million residents in 25 counties of Guangdong, forcing the evacuation of nearly 150,000 people.

Inflicting direct economic loss of 12.5 billion yuan (about 1.97 billion US dollars), it destroyed more than 2,800 rooms and damaged nearly 196,000 hectares of farmland in the province.

The provincial civil affairs department has allocated 20 million yuan in disaster relief fund to worst-hit areas.

Guangxi has evacuated 66,300 people as the disaster affected about 1.4 million residents in 22 counties. It caused direct economic losses of 175 million yuan for the region.

Packing winds up to 60 meters per second, the typhoon landed in Zhanjiang, Guangdong at 2:10 p.m. Sunday.