China says tropical storm Muifa caused losses of about 480 million US dollars destroying hundreds of homes as it battered the country's east coast before slamming into North Korea on Tuesday. The Chinese weather agency said it had downgraded tropical Storm Muifa to a depression after it made landfall in North Korea early Tuesday avoiding a feared direct hit on China's densely populated commercial capital Shanghai further south. The National Disaster Reduction Committee said 1.35 million people were evacuated, 600 houses destroyed and another 4,800 damaged as Muifa skirted China's eastern coast. There were no confirmed deaths in China, but one person was missing after a boat sank, and four people were killed in neighbouring South Korea. In Shanghai, hundreds of flights had to be cancelled and thousands of fishing boats were called back to port over the weekend.