Typhoon Krovanh has so far claimed at least two lives in Zhanjiang City in southern China's Guangdong Province, and injured another eight people in Guangdong and Hainan Province, local officials said Monday.

Some 10,860 houses were toppled by Krovanh in Zhanjiang, where the lives and livelihoods of more than three million people and 143,300 ha of crops were affected.

Supplies of power and water were also cut off by the typhoon in Xuwen County and Leizhou City, both in Zhanjiang.

The direct economic losses in Zhanjiang were estimated at 920 million yuan (US$111 million).

With a wind force of 12 at the center, Typhoon Krovanh hit Xuwen County early Monday morning, bringing gales and heavy rainstorms, uprooting large numbers of banana trees and cutting off high-tension lines linking Xuwen County to Zhanjiang.

In Zhanjiang's neighboring city of Wenchang, Hainan Province, more than 200 houses collapsed, and the lives and livelihoods of more than 200,000 people were affected, with the direct economic losses estimated at 250 million yuan (US$30 million).

Meanwhile, 15 flights from this capital of south China's Guangzhou Province were delayed by Typhoon Krovanh Monday, stranding more than 500 passengers at the city's Baiyun Airport.

Typhoon Krovanh, which is named after a Cambodian tree, is the 12th typhoon to ravage China this year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2003)