Death toll from storm jumps to nearly 500

? China’s death toll from tropical storm Bilis more than doubled to 482 after a hard-hit inland province reported a sharp rise in fatalities, state media said Friday.

Authorities in Hunan province said 346 people died in floods triggered by the storm, while 89 others were missing, the Xinhua News Agency said. The province previously reported 92 deaths.

Bilis slammed into China’s southeastern coast July 14 and churned inland, triggering flooding and landslides. Nearly 3 million people were forced to flee their homes, the government said.

The higher death toll in Hunan included 197 victims in the village of Zixing, where a state television reporter found the local government had underreported the number of deaths, Xinhua said.