East China braces for new storm after deadly Talim

BEIJING - China's eastern province of Zhejiang is bracing for more storms triggered by typhoon Nabi after another tropical storm battered the area and killed at least 56 people, state media said on Sunday.

Strong winds and rainstorms, fuelled by typhoon Nabi churning towards Japan on Sunday, were expected to ravage coastal areas of northern and central Zhejiang early this week, prompting local authorities to urge efforts to minimise the damage.

The impact from Typhoon Nabi -- Korean for "butterfly" -- would be felt just days after Typhoon Talim battered China's east coast, triggering torrential rains and floods and killing at least 56 people, according to Chinese media.

Typhoon Talim, which weakened into a tropical storm on Friday, claimed at least 14 lives in Zhejiang's Wenzhou City.

Nine more people had been reported missing in Zhejiang, where some 2.2 million people across 18 counties had been affected, Xinhua said.

It estimated the economic damage caused by typhoon Talim in four eastern provinces was about 7.1 billion yuan (about $NZ1.2 billion).

The Beijing News said that some 56 people were killed in typhoon Talim. Xinhua put the total death toll at 43, with 27 missing, in the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian.

No comment was immediately available from the Ministry of Civil Affairs or the National Meteorological Centre.

Chinese authorities had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people from their homes as they braced for the typhoon.

Typhoons are common in Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and southern China during storm season, that lasts from early summer to late autumn.

Typhoon Nabi has weakened and lost its super-typhoon status by Saturday, but the storm remained strong enough to threaten Japan's main islands.

It is likely to be closest to Kyushu on Tuesday morning, threatening a wide swathe of western Japan with strong winds and heavy rain.

- REUTERS