Taiwan counts cost of typhoon

A flooded street in the south of the country

Taiwan has begun counting the cost of Typhoon Bilis which left at least 11 dead and 100 injured after tearing through the island.

Eight people died in a landslide

Rescuers are also continuing to search for five people missing in the aftermath of the storm, the biggest to hit east Asia so far this year.

The missing include a rescuer whose inflatable boat capsized in a river, a doctor who disappeared while mountain climbing and a farmer who vanished while checking crop damage.

Officials said Taiwan¿s agricultural sector had suffered more than 4bn Taiwan dollars ($130.4), but warned the figure could rise as more reports come in.

A crew goes to the rescue in Tienliao

The country's Agricultural Council said some 98,000 acres of rice paddies and orchards had been flooded.

The government has agreed on an aid package for those affected by Bilis, which was classed as a "super typhoon".

Bilis hit Taiwan on Tuesday night and continued to rage through the island on Wednesday generating winds of up to 320km/h

Government offices, schools and financial markets reopened on Thursday after the Central Weather Bureau lifted all storm warnings.

President Chen Shui-bian, who is cutting short a tour of Africa to take charge of disaster relief efforts, will visit areas battered by the storm immediately after his return on Friday.

China

Typhoon Bilis weakened into a tropical storm as it moved inland in China on Thursday.

Homes and offices were badly damaged

Reports said it had left a trail of destruction through Fujian province, flattening hundreds of coastal homes and triggering mudslides, one of which blocked a railway.

But Chinese officials said they had no reports of deaths or injuries.

In the Chinese coastal city of Jinjiang, where the typhoon landed, more than 300 houses and a sea wall collapsed.

Scores of fishing boats were damaged, around 200 factories were forced to close and nearly 6,000 acres of farmland were flooded. City officials put economic losses at more than $12m.

An official in Fujian's provincial capital, Fuzhou, said the storm there had wrecked hundreds of houses and uprooted more than 4,500 trees. He said economic losses in the area totalled $60m.