Two more people were killed and nine others remained missing as typhoon Koppu slammed its way into south China's Guangdong Province, bringing the death toll to nine, local authorities said Thursday.

All the nine missing were swept away by flash floods and the dead were killed by typhoon-triggered mud-rock flows, landslides, house collapses and flooding, according to Guangdong Flooding and Drought Relief Headquarters.

As of 4:00 PM Thursday, more than 1.44 million local residents in 287 townships in the province had been affected by the typhoon, according to the latest statistics of the headquarters.

The typhoon, the 15th this year, has brought rains to the province. Although it relieved the lingering drought in north and east Guangdong, the heavy rain also caused disruption.

The headquarters said more than 19,800 local residents had been moved to safety in the besieged city of Luoding.

More than 1,250 houses in Yangchun, Xinyi and Luoding cities have been destroyed by the typhoon.

In southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, more than 2,280 people have been removed to safety amid the typhoon threat as of Thursday, according to the regional flooding and drought relief headquarters.

The headquarters said that the precipitation brought by the typhoon relieved the region's lingering drought. But about 284,000hectares cropland and nearly 500,000 people are still short of water.

According to the weather forecast of China's Central Meteorological Station, the southern part of the country, including Jiangsu, Hubei, Anhui and Sichuan provinces, will be overcast and rainy in the coming two days and most parts of Guangxi and Guangdong will remain sunny.

(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2009)