NANCHANG, Sept. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Rainstorms, flooding, landslides, mud-and-rock flow and breach of river embankment caused by typhoon Talim have claimed five lives and left eight others missing in east China's Jiangxi Province.

    The disasters had also destructed more than 7,000 houses and damaged 210,000 hectares of crops and affected 2.21 million people in the province's 272 towns, according to Jiangxi Provincial Headquarters for Flood Control and Drought Relief on Sunday.

    Figures released by the headquarters show that as of Sunday, the total economic losses were estimated at 1.7 billion yuan (about 200 million US dollars).

    According to Jiangxi Provincial Meteorological Station, the province received an average 114 mm rainfall between 8 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Sunday, with the heaviest rainfall of 933.5 mm being reported at the Lushan Mountain area, where over 40 landslides, mud-and-rock flows and cave-ins were reported.

    In Jing'an county, 57,000 of the 60,000 people stranded by floodwater had been evacuated to safe places by press time.

    The provincial government dispatched five work groups to direct disaster relief work in affected areas.

    The continuous rainstorms triggered by typhoon Talim caused breach of an embankment on Liaohe River in Jiangxi at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, leaving two people missing. More than 10,000 people have been evacuated. The rainfall in the Liaohe River valley reached 318 mm.

    Typhoon Talim slammed the Chinese mainland in the Putian region of Fujian Province at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, packing gusts at a speed of 126 kilometers per hour and forcing local schools, roads and airports to close.

    Talim also caused casualties and massive economic losses to Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, both in east China. Enditem