China Rammasun death toll hits 33

BEIJING -- The death toll from super typhoon Rammasun had increased to 33, as seven more people were confirmed dead in a mudslide in southwest China's Yunnan province.

Rammasun, the strongest typhoon to hit south China in four decades, brought gales, downpours and floods to a number of southern provinces, affecting more than 8 million people in the provinces of Hainan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said a statement released Monday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Thirteen deaths were reported in south China's Hainan, nine in southwest China's Guangxi and now 11 in neighboring Yunnan, according to tallies based on both central and local government figures.

Deaths from a mudslide in a Yunnan village early Monday morning rose to ten, with another ten still missing. The provincial disaster relief bureau and civil affairs department have sent a team to the site.

A total of 608,000 people have been resettled and over 240,000 are in urgent need of basic necessities.

Despite zero deaths so far, Guangdong suffered the worst economic losses of more than 12.7 billion yuan ($2b), with 7,800 houses and 110,000 hectares of crops destroyed.

Direct economic losses in Guangxi and Hainan are each estimated at more than six billion yuan.