China evacuates as storm strikes

Nearly one-million people have been evacuated from the coastal regions of China as Typhoon Morakot blew in. Winds upto 119km/h (74mph) destroyed houses and flooded farmland. In Zhejiang's Wenzhou City a four year-old child was killed when a house collapsed. Dozens of roads were said to be flooded and the city's airport was closed.

Chinese state media said that the sky turned completely dark in Beibi, Fujian, when Typhoon Morakot made landfall on Sunday morning.

In Taiwan, where the typhoon hit on Sunday, 12 people are confirmed dead. Meanwhile, in Japan nine people are reported dead in floods and landslides after Typhoon Etau brought heavy rain to the west of the country.

Eight people died in Hyogo prefecture, including one man whose car was swept away by a swollen river, and another died in neighbouring Okayama prefecture. Another 10 people are missing.

Trees were uprooted as high winds and heavy rain lashed the coast, and more than 2,000 houses are reported to have collapsed.

Some 473,000 residents of Zhejiang province were evacuated before the typhoon struck, as well as 480,000 from Fujian, Xinhua news agency said. Rescuers used dinghies to reach worst-hit areas; in one area only the tops of trees were said to be showing above the floodwater.