HONG KONG (AP) -- The year's most powerful typhoon slammed into southern China, leaving 21 dead, local authorities said Monday. The storm also forced hundreds of flight cancellations, shut down shipping and train lines and blew cars off the road.
The deaths occurred in Guangdong province, where Typhoon Usagi struck Sunday evening after veering away from the neighboring and densely populated financial hub of Hong Kong. It had earlier passed by Taiwan and the Philippines, where two deaths were reported.
The Guangdong provincial government's news office said on its official microblog that 13 of the 21 people were killed in Shanwei city, near the typhoon's landfall.
The official Xinhua News Agency had earlier reported three deaths - two killed when strong winds brought down a tree ahead of the typhoon's arrival, and a third person killed by falling window glass.
One county's electricity and water supply was cut off, and houses were toppled by strong winds, Xinhua said. At one gas station near Shanwei city, winds blew cars off the road, it said.
In Hong Kong, dozens of trees were reported down and 13 people had sought medical treatment and seven of these were admitted to hospital, according to the Hong Kong government's information services department.
Usagi - Japanese for rabbit - was classified as a severe typhoon and had sustained winds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour, with gusts of up to 213 kph (132 mph), when it hit land Sunday evening.
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