Sepat loses steam, heads to inland China

BEIJING, Aug 20 (Reuters) A typhoon that killed 30 people in China, Taiwan and the Philippines weakened to a tropical storm today as it headed inland, where Chinese mines were ordered to close and over a million people sought safety.

Tropical Storm Sepat, which had made landfall as a typhoon in China on Sunday bringing torrential rain and powerful winds, damaged houses, ruined crops and cut power supply lines in eastern and southern China, Xinhua news agency said.

Across Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, 26 people died with others missing, according to Xinhua late today.

There were no deaths in the southern province of Guangdong, the news agency said, contradicting an earlier report of several deaths there.

Among the deaths in Fujian were six killed when their village house was buried in a landslide apparently triggered by the intense rain.

Xinhua said that 3.5 million people in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces were affected by the storm.

Officials estimated total direct economic damage at 2.46 billion yuan (4 million), with 7,600 homes and other buildings toppled and 16,000 ha (40,000 acres) of crops destroyed.

Meteorologists predicted heavy rainfall would continue in Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi until tomorrow.

Mines have been ordered to suspend operations in the next three days in central province of Hunan as Sepat drew near.

People in low-lying regions were ordered to evacuate.

Sepat -- which takes its name from the Malay word for a species of freshwater fish -- was expected to hit Hubei Province in central China from today to Wednesday.

Disaster officials in the Philippines said three people drowned in flooding caused by Sepat and parts of the capital and surrounding provinces remained under water.

Taiwan's disaster centre said one person had died and several had been injured in the typhoon. About 2,500 people were evacuated and nearly 9,000 homes were still without electricity.

REUTERS SR RK2104