Typhoon Son-Tinh leaves 1 dead, 5 missing

Typhoon Son-Tinh has left one person dead and another five missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

The typhoon has also forced around 126,000 people to be relocated in south China's Hainan Province as of 5 p.m. Monday.

Son-Tinh has affected around 1.26 million residents in the province's 11 county-level regions, the ministry said.

The typhoon has destroyed more than 700 houses and damaged more than 2,400 others. It also affected 41,100 hectares of crops, leading to direct economic losses of 910 million yuan (about 145.73 million U.S. dollars).

The island province of Hainan has experienced gales and high waves since Saturday as the typhoon hit the region. Local authorities have urged all shipping boats to return to harbor and ferry services into and out of the island have been suspended due to safety concerns.

Son-Tinh, the 23rd typhoon of the year, weakened to a strong tropical storm on Monday morning after sweeping across north Vietnam.

The typhoon also landed on south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region at around 1 p.m. on Monday, bringing rainstorms and strong gales that caused rivers to overflow, leading to the relocation of thousands of residents, local authorities said.

About 127,800 residents in Guangxi have been affected by the typhoon, with a direct economic losses totalling 33.82 million yuan as of 5:20 p.m. Monday, civil authorities of Guangxi said.

Nearly 10,000 residents in several regions in Guangxi have been relocated as a result.

Maritime authorities in Guangxi rescued 26 Vietnamese women and children who were trapped on their boats in the border river of Beilun on Monday morning.

The rainstorm and ensuing flooding has meant the water level in the river has risen to a height of 8.2 meters, 3.2 meters above the warning level.

Meteorological experts said that heavy rainfall will persist during the next two days. They added that a typhoon of this magnitude has rarely been seen in Guangxi.