Typhoon Soudelor In China: Death Toll Rises To 21

Typhoon Soudelor has killed at least 21 people in China after it battered the country over the weekend, officials said Monday. The typhoon has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

On Monday, a rock fall crushed a car killing two people while two others drowned in the eastern province of Anhui, local authorities said, according to Agence France-Presse. Soudelor, which was billed as the biggest typhoon this year, forced the evacuation of 181,000 people, according to local reports.

In neighboring Zhejiang province, 14 people died in the storm and four were missing, Xinhua News reported Tuesday citing a local news network. According to China Daily, landslides in the southeastern province of Fujian left three people dead. One person was reported missing in Zhouning county after floods.

Three airports were reportedly shut down and over 530 flights canceled, and local authorities said that over 7,000 soldiers and police were deployed in Fujian. Authorities also cautioned that those missing might have been washed away or be buried under debris.

The typhoon made landfall in China over the weekend after it swept Taiwan Saturday, where it killed at least six people, injured over 379 and affected about four million households.

The West Pacific Basin has encountered 10 typhoons so far this year, according to reports. Five of those reached super-typhoon strength.