Typhoon Soudelor, which killed five people and injured 185 others in Taiwan on Saturday, hit China Saturday night. The tropical cyclone hit Putian city, in the nation's southern Fujian province, and was downgraded to a tropical storm due to its weakened intensity, CNN reported.
Soudelor weakened as it made its way inland towards the northwest, and the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center reports that it has maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour (52 mph) and gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph).
China endured heavy rain and fierce winds, leading to the evacuation of almost 160,000 people from their homes, according to BBC News.
Despite its downgrade to a tropical storm, Soudelor continues to pose dangers to residents of eastern China. Rainfall will hit 8 inches in many cities with more than 300 mm of higher terrain and could lead to the possibility of mudslides, reported AccuWeather.com.
Soudelor has collapsed 36 homes and damaged 281 others throughout eastern China, according to the Fujian Civil Affairs Department. Approximately 32,000 boats had to be called back to port before the typhoon hit.
More than 4 million households have lost electricity so far due to damaged traffic lights and power lines, and 534 international and domestic flights were either cancelled or delayed, reported Yahoo! News.
