Typhoon Bilis caused the death of 51 people this weekend, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

A gaggle of geese swim past a house, along a flooded street in southern Pintung County of Taiwan, after Tropical Storm Bilis brought torrential rains across the island July 14, 2006. [Reuters]

Among the victims, 39 were found in Central China's Hunan Province, nine in South China's Guangdong Province and three in Taiwan Province.

In Hunan, some 100 people are still missing and about 350 people have been injured. Rescuers have evacuated 52,000 people, but nearly 5,000 others are still stranded.

The whole city has been affected, and some 30,000 residents have been stranded.

At least 2.3 million people in Hunan have been affected by rainstorms and floods. About 31,400 houses were destroyed and 36,630 hectares of farmland ruined, official figures showed.

The death toll in South China's Guangdong Province has risen to nine with 13 others missing, as Typhoon Bilis caused downpours and landslides in the southeast part of the province.

At least 6,500 people have been evacuated to safe places, while another 12,000 are still trapped. The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was cut off by floods.

Local meteorological departments warned more heavy rains would hit Guangdong in the coming days.

After Bilis landed in East China's Fujian Province on Friday, it affected more than 2.4 million people and brought direct economic losses in the province of 450 million yuan (US$56 million).

As the typhoon arrived in Zhejiang Province in East China, more than 1.7 million residents had to be evacuated, resulting in direct economic losses of 690 million yuan (US$86 million).

In the first half of the year, more than 19 million people were influenced by inundations which killed 59 and led to a direct economic loss of 13.1 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion), figures from the Ministry of Water Resources showed.

Meanwhile, Bilis has left three people dead and two others injured after pounding Taiwan, according to media reports in Taipei.

The typhoon has caused some 97.54 million new Taiwan dollars (US$3 million) worth of direct damage to the province's agriculture.