Nearly 2,000 homes destroyed as storm brings chaos to China’s south-eastern coast after hitting Taiwan

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A tropical storm in China has killed six people, with at least eight more missing, reports said, after super typhoon Nepartak lashed Taiwan.

By late Sunday more than 200,000 residents in 10 mainland cities had been temporarily relocated and 1,900 homes destroyed, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the civil affairs ministry.

Power was cut for hundreds of thousands in the south-eastern province of Fujian, while five airports were closed and hundreds of high-speed train journeys cancelled, the Global Times newspaper reported on Monday.

The economic cost was estimated at 860m yuan (£99m).

Nepartak brought chaos to Taiwan on Friday, forcing more than 15,000 people to flee their homes as part of the island saw its strongest winds in over a century.

It had weakened into a tropical storm by the time it made landfall in Fujian on Saturday but still caused havoc, with pictures showing cars upended, buildings ripped apart and towns swamped in mud.

In Taiwan, Nepartak killed three people and injured more than 300, according to the island’s central emergency operation centre.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A man walks over the wreckage of houses hit by super typhoon Nepartak in Putian city in Fujian province on Saturday. Photograph: Zhang Guojun/AP

China’s national meteorological centre on Monday put out a blue alert for heavy rain across 14 provinces and regions – the lowest in a four-tiered warning system.