Typhoon Gaemi displaces nearly 300,000 in eastern China

Huge waves lash the shore ahead of landfall by Typhoon Gaemi in Sansha Township of Xiapu County, southeast China's Fujian Province on Jul 25, 2024. (Photo: AP/Xinhua/Jiang Kehong)

BEIJING: Authorities evacuated nearly 300,000 people and suspended public transport across eastern China on Friday (Jul 26), as Typhoon Gaemi brought torrential rains that were already responsible for five deaths in nearby Taiwan.

Gaemi was the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in eight years when it made landfall on Thursday, flooding parts of the island's second-biggest city.

It also exacerbated seasonal rains in the Philippines on its path to Taiwan, triggering flooding and landslides that killed 30 people, according to police figures on Friday. 

A tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of oil sank off Manila on Thursday, with authorities racing to offload the cargo and avoid an environmental catastrophe.

It had weakened by the time it made landfall in China's eastern Fujian province shortly before 8pm local time on Thursday, state media said.

China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with heavy rains across the east and south coming as much of the north has sweltered under successive heatwaves.

"HEAVY RAINS"

Chinese authorities warned Typhoon Gaemi was bringing with it torrential rains that could cause flooding.

They have relocated more than 290,000 people in Fujian and shut down public transport, offices, schools and markets in some cities.

In neighbouring Zhejiang province, footage aired by state broadcaster CCTV Friday showed streets turned into rivers, trees strewn over roads and bikes struggling through knee-high waters.

The province's Wenzhou city - home to nine million people - has issued its highest warning for rainstorms and evacuated nearly 7,000 people, CCTV said.

The typhoon will also bring heavy rainfall to central Jiangxi and Henan, state media said.

Guangdong, China's most populous province, suspended some passenger train services on Friday ahead of the typhoon's expected arrival, CCTV said.

Citing the official China Weather Network, the broadcaster said the typhoon was moving northwestward at about 20kmh.

It will "gradually weaken" as it makes its way to Jiangxi on Friday late afternoon, it said.

No deaths or injuries have yet been reported.

The north of the country has this week also been hit by showers, with state media saying on Friday that heavy rains had killed one and left three missing in the northwestern province of Gansu.

At a meeting of the country's top leadership chaired by President Xi Jinping on Thursday, officials urged local authorities to stay "highly vigilant and proactive" as the country entered peak flooding season.

This article was originally published on Channel News Asia CNA Online News. Its inclusion on this website is solely for education purposes.