Tropical Storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after hitting the country’s east coast at typhoon strength on Thursday night.
The storm knocked down trees, flooded roads, and damaged crops in China, but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Eight people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon intensity before moving across open waters toward China.
However, the greatest loss of life and property occurred in a country that Gaemi first passed through but didn’t strike directly: the Philippines. On Friday, officials said the death toll continued to rise and now stands at 34. The storm added to seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, triggering landslides and severe flooding that left people stranded on rooftops as water rose around them.
China
Gaemi has weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in coastal Fujian province on Thursday evening, but is expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest toward Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.
According to Chinese media reports, about 85 hectares (210 acres) of crops were destroyed in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million). More than 290,000 people were evacuated due to the storm.
Elsewhere in China, one person was killed and three others were missing after several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province in the country’s northwest, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Taiwan
Residents and business owners cleaned up mud and water after heavy flooding hit parts of southern and central Taiwan on Friday, with cars and scooters swept off roads and some towns submerged in waist-deep water.
Eight people were killed, several of them killed by falling trees and one died due to a landslide that collapsed on his home. The Emergency Operations Center reported that more than 850 people were injured and one person was missing.
Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south on Friday, President Lai Ching-te praised the city’s efforts to improve flood control following the 2009 typhoon, which dropped a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
Lai announced that families in severely flooded areas would receive cash payments of 20,000 New Taiwan dollars ($610).
The Central News Agency reported that a cargo ship sank off the coast near Kaohsiung port during the typhoon and the captain’s body was later pulled from the water. Several other ships were also stranded on the beach due to the storm.
Philippines
At least 34 people were killed in the Philippines, most of them in floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains that intensified after the typhoon – called Carina in the Philippines – passed off the archipelago’s east coast.
Police said the victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on roofs and upper floors of their homes. Some drowned or died from electric shock in flooded areas.
Earlier this week, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts to deliver food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten in days.
The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were pulled out on Wednesday after a landslide buried their hut in the rural hill town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.