China fires three local officials after tropical storm killed 83

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 said on Monday that Typhoon Nepartak, which weakened to a tropical storm when it hit China earlier this month, had 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, plus widespread cuts to power and telecommunications services.

Xinhua says the county’s deputy Communist Party chief and acting head, Huang Shiyang, plus two other officials have been suspended from their duties.

Nepartak made landfall in China on July 9.