Typhoon Prapiroon has killed at least 77 people and left 16 others missing in southern China's Guangdong Province and neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region despite the relocation of more than 660,000 people from threatened areas.

The latest increase in the fatalities was from Guangxi, where Prapiroon has weakened into a tropical storm but kept its influence, with another two deaths in typhoon-triggered disasters, according to the Guangxi regional department of civil affairs yesterday.

The department said 4.3 million people in the region were affected by Prapiroon, which also toppled down 6,400 houses and destroyed crops on 172,000 hectares of farmland.

Prapiroon set off flash floods and landslides that killed 26 in Guangxi.

A flash flood occurred at a private forest farm in Fenghuang Township of Laibin City early on Saturday morning, sweeping away 13 migrant workers who were working on the farm.

The rescuers saved only six of them and found six corpses. One worker is still missing.

Three people were killed and one injured in a landslide in Luming Village of Hengzhou Township, Hengxian County on Saturday morning when one side of a house fell.

Prapiroon made landfall at the South China coastal area between Yangxi County and Dianbai County in western Guangdong on Thursday evening, leaving at least 51 dead and 14 more missing in Guangdong alone.

Prapiroon, the sixth typhoon of the year, packed strong winds and dumped torrential rains in Guangdong, with Taishan, Enping and Yangchun being worst hit. Economic losses are forecast to run to 2.4 billion yuan (US$300 million).

It even produced a tornado which struck areas including Foshan, Shanwei and Shaoguan in Guangdong on Friday, causing nine deaths in Foshan, said a spokesman from the Guangdong Provincial Office for Drought, Flood and Wind Control.

Prapiroon, which means Rain God in Thai, formed in the South China Sea and strengthened into a typhoon on Wednesday noon.