(Yicai Global) Aug. 14 -- Super typhoon Lekima, the most powerful to make landfall in China since 1961, has claimed 56 lives and displaced millions as it cut a destructive path through eastern coastal provinces.

Lekima was categorized at the level of a tropical storm and above for 44 hours over the mainland. It has been weakening since and the China Meteorological Administration has ended close tracking.

The storm has been heading north since making landfall in Zhejiang province on Aug. 10, affecting Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Tianjin and other provinces and cities, spanning 248,000 square kilometers. It has caused CNY51.5 billion (USD7.3 billion) in direct economic losses, according to official data.

Under the influence of Lekima and cold air, there was widespread rain in eastern China as well as in the north and northeast from Aug. 8 to 13. Precipitation in many areas in eastern Zhejiang exceeded 400 millimeters.

Lekima has led to the collapse of 15,000 homes and hit 1.1 million hectares of crops, of which 93,500 hectares have been destroyed. Shouguang, an important vegetable growing region in Shandong province, suffered its heaviest rainfall since 1959. Some 753 sq. km of local farmland was affected and 93,000 people were forced to evacuate.