Updated: 3:30pm (AEST)
Taipei, Taiwan/Beijing, China
Reuters
Typhoon Gaemi swept through northern Taiwan on Thursday, killing two people, triggering flooding and sinking a freighter offshore before heading across the sea and into China where it is expected to dump more torrential rain.
Gaemi made landfall around midnight on the north-eastern coast of Taiwan in Yilan county. It is the strongest typhoon to hit the island in eight years and was packing gusts of up to 227 kph before weakening, according to the Central Weather Administration.
The water level rises due to heavy rains in Meinong District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on 25th July, 2024, in this picture obtained from social media. PICTURE: Chichen Fu/via Reuters
As of 12:15 pm, Gaemi was in the Taiwan Strait and heading toward Fuzhou in China’s Fujian province.
The storm cut power to around half a million households in Taiwan, though most are now back online, utility Taipower said.
Taiwan’s fire department said a Tanzania-flagged freighter with nine Myanmar nationals on board had sunk off the coast of the southern port city of Kaohsiung and there had been no response from the crew. Search efforts were ongoing, it added.
The typhoon is expected to bring more rain across Taiwan, with offices and schools as well as the financial markets closed for a second day on Thursday.
Trains will be stopped until 3pm, with all domestic flights and 195 international flights cancelled for the day. The high speed train linking north and south Taiwan will re-open at 2pm, the transport ministry said.
Two people have died and 266 injured due to the typhoon, the government said. Taiwanese television stations showed pictures of flooded streets in cities and counties across the island.
Chinese weather forecasters said Gaemi will pass through Fujian province later on Thursday and head inland, gradually moving northward with less intensity. But weather forecasters are expecting heavy rain in many areas as it tracks north.
Government officials have already prepared for heavy rain and flooding, raising advisories and warnings in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.
In Fujian, government officials have relocated about 150,000 people, mainly from coastal fishing communities, state media reported. As gale force winds picked up, officials in Zhoushan in Zhejiang province suspended passenger waterway routes for up to three days.
Most flights were cancelled at airports in Fuzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian, and Wenzhou in Zhejiang, according to the VariFlight app.
Guangzhou rail officials suspended some trains that pass through typhoon-affected areas, according to CCTV.
A fisherman tightens a rope on a boat while moored at a fishing harbour as Typhoon Gaemi approaches in Keelung, Taiwan, on 24th July, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Meanwhile, north China is experiencing heavy rain from summer storms around a separate weather system. Officials in capital Beijing upgraded and issued a red warning late Wednesday night for torrential rain expected through most of Thursday, according to Chinese state media.
Some areas have already experienced heavy rain and emergency plans were activated, with more than 25,000 people evacuated, according to Beijing Daily. Some train services were also suspended at the Beijing West Railway Station, state media said.
The Beijing Fangshan District Meteorological Observatory expects that by 10am many parts of the city will have more than 150 mm of rainfall in six hours, and in some other areas more than 200 mm in 24 hours, state television reported.
Meanwhile, heavy rain from Typhoon Gaemi resulted in floods in the Philippine capital Manila and nearby cities, forcing authorities to shut schools, offices and cancel flights on Wednesday and declare a state of calamity in a region that is home to 13 million people.
The storm did not make landfall in the Philippines but has intensified seasonal monsoon rains, causing landslides and flooding over the past few days.
We rely on our readers to fund Sight's work - become a financial supporter today!
For more information, head to our Subscriber's page.
At least 12 people have died and more than 600,000 are displaced due to the storm, known locally as Typhoon Carina, the national disaster agency said. Water in some areas is neck-high.
The Philippine coastguard said 260 passengers and 16 vessels were stranded in ports while airlines cancelled 114 flights out of Manila on Wednesday, the airport authority said.
The financial markets were also closed.
Residents wade through a flooded road following heavy rains brought by Typhoon Gaemi, in Marikina City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on 24th July, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Lisa Marie David.
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr, told the disaster relief agencies to provide assistance and prepare supplies for isolated communities during a briefing on Wednesday, and the mayors of 16 cities in the Greater Manila region have asked for emergency funding, officials said.
In the riverside city of Marikina, emergency workers waded through waist-deep waters and used rubber dinghies to rescue residents from their inundated homes.
Some people sheltered in churches among the statues of Catholic saints.
“The flood reached the second floor of our house, all our things are ruined, everything got wet, nothing was saved,” Ladylyn Bernas, an evacuee at a nearby church, told Reuters.
Social media posts showed several vehicles stuck in water or floating down streets and highways.
The Philippines sees an average of 20 tropical storms annually, causing floods and deadly landslides.
– With reporting by NEIL JEROME MORALES and KAREN LEMA
