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Haitang was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it moved into southeast China Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction. The death toll in Taiwan and in China rose to 13.
Twelve deaths were reported in Taiwan and one in China, where more than 1 million people fled their homes in coastal Fujian and Zhejiang provinces before the storm slammed into the mainland Tuesday.
On Wednesday, storm winds slowed to 40 mph, down from 74 mph on Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for the Fujian Meteorological Bureau. She would give only her surname, Gao.
China's one confirmed fatality was in Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang, the Xinhua news agency reported.
In Taiwan, authorities said the death toll had risen to 12 from four reported earlier. Most of the deaths occurred in the southern part of the island and were blamed on landslides, traffic accidents and drowning, the government's Center for Disaster Response said.
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