Typhoon Saola's death toll rises to 42 as two storms hit China

Taipei - The death toll from Typhoon Saola rose Friday to 42 in the Philippines and Taiwan as the now-tropical storm and Typhoon Damrey made landfall in China.

The Philippines recorded 37 deaths in floods and accidents caused by Saola’s torrential rains and strong winds, the Office of Civil Defence said. Four people were missing and feared dead.

Taiwan residents spent Friday cleaning up storm damage and returning to work, a day after Saola slammed into the island, packing up to 155-kilometre-per-hour winds, dumping 1.8 metres of rain and killing five people. Two were missing, the government’s disaster operations centre said.

It weakened into a tropical storm before making landfall Friday morning in Fuding in China’s south-eastern province of Fujian with winds of 90 kph at its centre, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.

It was the second tropical cyclone to make landfall in China in little more than nine hours after Damrey hit Thursday night in the eastern province of Jiangsu.//DPA