Typhoon Lashes China Coast After Raking Taiwan

Typhoon Soudelor, fresh from causing devastation on Taiwan, has left a dozen dead and five missing in mainland China as it caused floods and mudslides even as it ground down to tropical storm status.

The storm made landfall in China's Fujian province late Saturday after causing six deaths in Taiwan and leaving hundreds of thousands there without electricity.

Photo taken by a mobile phone on Sunday shows flood water running off the mountain at Lushan scenic spot in east China's Jiangxi Province.

Zhou Mi/Xinhua/Landov

The Associated Press reports: "The Fujian Civil Affairs Department said that the storm collapsed 36 houses and damaged 281 others. Authorities had evacuated more than 370,000 people and ordered around 32,000 boats back to port before the typhoon struck land."

And the BBC adds that one coastal area experienced 20 inches of rain in 24 hours, the heaviest there in a century.

Xihnua says 12 people were killed and five are missing in mudslides in rural areas of Wenzhou municipality, in the south of Zhejiang province.