Three people died and two were missing as Typhoon Hagupit made landfall in south China's Guangdong Province early on Wednesday, local authorities said.

More than 4.94 million people in Maoming, Yangjiang, Zhuhai and Jiangmen cities were affected and 7,915 houses collapsed.

A Guangdong Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters official said 180,260 hectares of crops were affected and 38,980 ha were ruined.

He said 870 factories stopped production and 34 roads were cut off. In addition, 32 reservoirs and 287.8 km of dams were damaged. The direct economic loss was 5.45 billion yuan (US$800 million), he said.

Also, 99 hydro stations recorded more than 100 millimeters of rain and 258 stations recorded more than 50 mm of rain on Wednesday, he said.

Er Jingping, general secretary of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and deputy head of the Water Resources Ministry, went to Guangdong to guide the rescue work on Wednesday morning.

The 14th strong typhoon of the year landed in Dianbai County in the city of Maoming at 6:45 AM with winds of more than 200 km per hour at its eye, the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Bureau said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2008)