Although Typhoon Gaemi weakened before reaching eastern China shortly before 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Thursday, according to Chinese state television CCTV, it has forced the evacuation of some 300,000 people and is still disrupting transport in eastern and southern China on Friday.
Gaemi has already made deadly landfall on neighboring Taiwan, killing five people. It is the strongest typhoon to hit the island nation in eight years, with local gusts reaching 190 km/h. On Thursday, it turned the streets of Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second-largest city after Taipei, into rivers.
Gaemi also worsened seasonal rains in the Philippines, causing flooding and landslides that killed 20 people. On Tuesday, a Philippine-flagged oil tanker, the MT Terra Nova, sank off Manila in the Philippines.
Since its arrival on mainland China, heavy rains have continued to fall on large parts of the south and east of the country. In Fujian (East), the province facing Taiwan, more than 290,000 people have been relocated as a precaution for fear of flooding, according to the official Xinhua news agency. In these conditions, transport, schools, markets and public services have been suspended in some cities in the province.
In the bordering province of Zhejiang, near Shanghai, residents in knee-deep water shoveled bicycles and uprooted trees from flooded streets, state television CCTV showed. In Wenzhou, the province’s largest city of nine million, a storm alert of red, the highest level, nearly 7,000 people were evacuated.
Gaemi is then expected to continue its journey to the provinces of Jiangxi and Henan (central). In addition, in the province of Guangdong (South), emblematic of China’s manufacturing power and which has some 127 million inhabitants, some rail links have been interrupted.
So far, no casualties have been reported, according to authorities.
Climate disruption
China is experiencing a summer marked by extreme weather events and locally unusual temperatures, the types of phenomena exacerbated by climate change, scientists say.
Torrential rains have hit the east and south of the country in recent weeks and much of the north has suffered multiple heatwaves, including the capital Beijing with several days above 35C. Heavy rains have also hit the north of the country, as well as the semi-desert and arid Gansu province in the northwest, where the bad weather has left one person dead and three missing, Xinhua said Friday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping held an emergency meeting on Thursday to review weather conditions and urged authorities to be extra vigilant as the country enters a sensitive period for flooding, according to a CCTV report of the meeting.