Typhoon moves across China, leaves 17 dead

The Associated Press

BEIJING -- The strongest typhoon to hit southern China in four decades has killed 17 people, officials said this morning.

Typhoon Rammasun killed nine people and left five missing Friday after hitting Hainan Island off China's southern coast, an official at the Ministry of Water Resources' flood-control department said. Eight others died in the Guangxi region as the storm plowed into the mainland on its way north to Vietnam.

The typhoon is the strongest to hit southern China in 41 years, according to the China Meteorological Administration. Wind speeds reached 130 miles per hour, with the storm knocking down power lines and damaging buildings, the Xinhua news agency said.

Authorities in southern China suspended hundreds of buses, trains and flights across the region as the typhoon passed.

The typhoon wreaked havoc last week in the northern Philippines, leaving 94 people dead.

A Section on 07/20/2014

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