The death toll from Typhoon Utor's devastating sweep across the South China Sea rose to at least 78 yesterday as one of the worst storms in the region in 20 years began to fizzle out as it hit land in China.
Authorities in southern China said at least three people were killed, despite the typhoon being downgraded to a severe tropical storm after it made landfall near Shanwei, about 110km northeast of Hong Kong.
The toll of death and destruction caused by the typhoon when it was at its peak earlier this week continued to mount.
At least 74 people were killed in the Philippines, with another 49 still missing and 130 injured, rescuers said.
More than 300,000 people have been displaced on the main island of Luzon as a result of flooding caused by pounding rains.
The typhoon also killed one person in Taiwan. Seven fishermen aboard a Taiwanese-registered vessel were found safely off the Philippines' coast.
In China's southern province of Guangdong, two people died and four were injured in Shantou, while economic losses reached 692 million yuan (US$83 million), local government officials said.
One of the fatalities, Zheng Weiquan, was working on typhoon defenses when he was hit by falling metal roofing. He later died in hospital.
Shantou's other fatality, a 37-year-old woman identified as Jiang Peizhen, was killed by electric shock.
An official at Jieyang city's civil affairs bureau said one person died and 350 were injured in the typhoon, while economic losses amounted to 600 million yuan.
Only two flights were delayed at Guangzhou airport. Shantou airport was closed early in the morning but later reopened.
Fears of a direct hit on Hong Kong proved unfounded but the territory was still lashed by torrential rain and high winds. Schools and offices were shut and trading on the stock exchange cancelled.
Flights out of the city were severely disrupted with more than 22 delayed in the morning alone, adding to the misery of hundreds of passengers who were trapped overnight as a result of flights being cancelled on Thursday.
In the Philippines, 59 people were killed in the northern mountain city of Baguio and nearby provinces, with most falling victim to landslides.
There were 14 other deaths in the northern provinces of Pangasinan and Cagayan, and one in the central island of Panay, according to civil defense office and coast guard tallies.
Some road links to Baguio, which had been isolated by landslides, had been restored, but a number of roads in the northern Philippines were still impassable. Initial damage to infrastructure and agriculture was estimated at 105 million pesos (US$1.9 million), the civil defense office said.
In Vietnam, the official death toll as a result of the rain which has followed last weekend's Typhoon Durian, rose to 29 yesterday.
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