China fires 3 officials after typhoon in east killed 83

BEIJING — China's official news agency says the government has fired three officials after a strong tropical storm killed 83 people and left 19 others missing as it battered the country's eastern coast.

Xinhua News Agency said Monday that Typhoon Nepartak, which had weakened to a tropical storm when it hit China, toppled nearly 10,000 houses in eastern Fujian province's capital of Fuzhou over the past week.

The county of Minqing was the worst hit, reporting 73 deaths and 17 missing, and widespread cuts to power and telecommunications services.

Xinhua says the county's deputy party chief and acting head, Huang Shiyang, and two other officials have been suspended from their duties.

Nepartak made landfall in China on July 9. Authorities said then that about half a million people had been evacuated.