Clouds fly above Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, as Typhoon Malakas is approaching the east coast of Taiwan, Sept. 17, 2016. (Xinhua/Song Zhenping)
FUZHOU, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Typhoon Meranti has left 28 people dead and 15 others missing in the eastern Chinese provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.
Meranti, the strongest typhoon to hit China this year, made landfall in Xiamen City, Fujian, Thursday morning, with a maximum 17-grade wind force bringing extraordinary rainstorms.
Fujian flood control authorities said Saturday that 18 people died and 11 others were missing in the province. The typhoon paralyzed several cities in the south of the province, including Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. Direct economic losses in Fujian were over 16.9 billion yuan (about 2.6 billion U.S. dollars).
Ten people died and four remain unaccounted for in neighboring Zhejiang after the typhoon brought heavy rainfall. More than 902 houses collapsed and over 1.5 million people were affected, Zhejiang provincial flood control headquarters said Saturday.
As Meranti waned, China's meteorological authority issued a yellow alert for Typhoon Malakas on Saturday, forecasting strong winds and heavy rain.
Heavy rain will sweep parts of Zhejiang and Fujian, as well as central and north parts of Taiwan from Saturday to Sunday, with up to 120 millimeters of rain expected, meteorological authorities said.
China has a four-tier color-coded warning system for severe weather, with red the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
