A soldier cleans up fallen trees on a street after Typhoon Meranti swept away and left severe damages, in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Sept. 18, 2016. After the typhoon, disaster relief and reconstruction were launched across Fujian Province to bring life back to normal. (Xinhua)

Xiamen city in the east coastal province of Fujian is picking up the pieces after Typhoon Meranti passed through Thursday, leaving 28 people dead and 15 others still missing.

The city government on Sunday announced primary schools and kindergartens as well as private schools would be closed for two or three days, as power supply and the transportation network are both patchy.

The world's strongest typhoon this year is the strongest to hit Fujian since records began in 1949. It brought heavy rain and gales of up to 48 meters per second when it made landfall early Thursday, which was the first day of China's three-day holiday marking the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Sunday was the first work day after the holiday. The city's education authority said that the school closures would help lessen traffic pressure, while many soldiers, teachers and students' parents are still taking part in relief efforts.

The city's power grid said the typhoon disrupted power supply to 620,000 households. So far, 70 percent of the grid is back to normal.

The typhoon damaged more than 90 percent of the city's urban green areas.

More than 10,000 workers will clear the roads of debris and plants.

Wang Weijun, deputy head of Xiamen Bureau of Parks and Woods, said that the plants had been holding up traffic.

"It will take around three days to clean up this mess," said Wang.

Xiamen's famous resort island of Gulangyu has remained closed since Friday. All ferries between the island and the port in Xiamen have been canceled.

The island's management committee told Xinhua that more than 3,000 trees were uprooted by the typhoon, and 20 sections of road and 15 walls were damaged.

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