Typhoon Khanun flew into the east coast of China yesterday, wiping out more than 7,000 homes, killing 14 people and forcing the evacuation of nearly one million people.

The coastal city of Taizhou, which is around 250km (155m) south of Shanghai, took the brunt of the high winds and lashing rain. Like the rest of the mountainous province of Zhejiang, the city is vulnerable to mudslides and dramatic flooding.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, 14 people are so far known to have died and a further eight are missing.

Seven people died in Taizhou, and seven were killed in the nearby port of Ningbo. Total economic losses from the storm have been calculated at 6.89 billion yuan (£467 million), Xinhua said.

The approach of Typhoon Khanun, the 15th storm in the typhoon season, prompted a massive compulsory evacuation in the region. Along the Zhejiang coast, 814,267 people fled the storm and more than 35,000 ships were ordered into port.

China's east coast is still recovering from damage caused by Typhoon Talim, which hit a broad stretch of central and southeastern China earlier this month and killed at least 95 people.

Heavy rains are now expected over the next two days, and the province's flood control officials have "urged the local people to prepare for possible mountain torrents and other geological disasters," Xinhua said.

By 11am local time, Tyhoon Khanun had weakened into a tropical storm and was heading north at about 20kph (12mph) across the province of Jiangsu, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

The Chinese government announced today that death tolls caused by natural disasters would no longer be state secrets.

"Declassification of these figures and materials is conducive to boosting our disaster prevention and relief work," Shen Yongshe, a spokesman of the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets, told Xinhua.

Mr Shen said the announcement was part of the campaign of "building a transparent government" and "ruling according to law".

There was no indication whether the Government would release death tolls from previous disasters. Historians are particularly keen for more information on the famines that may have killed 30 million people in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

China has a long record of refusing to give information on accidents and disasters as well as falsifying figures. The deaths of 85,000 people in the central province of Henan in 1975, when dams burst during a typhoon, were kept secret until 1998.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• LA profits from Michael Jackson stimulus
• Berlusconi's absent wife causes G8 headache
• Chimps that took a punishing step for Man