According to the office, Hagupit-triggered floods and high winds had affected 8.73 million residents and 400,000 hectares of crops in southern Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The disaster toppled 18,500 houses and caused a direct economic loss of 6.3 billion yuan (US$923.7 million) there, it said.

In a separate report on Thursday morning, the Ministry of Civil Affairs confirmed that typhoon Hagupit had caused five deaths and two missing in the two provincial-level regions as of 17:00 on Wednesday.

According to the National Meteorological Observatory, Hagupit, the 14th strong typhoon of the year, landed in the city of Maomingof Guangdong at 6:45 on Wednesday morning with winds of more than 172.8 kilometers per hour in its eye and downgraded to a severe tropical storm at 2:00 PM.

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2008)