Typhoon Gaemi hit China's east coast Thursday local time. Authorities estimate more than 600,000 people have been affected. It has issued the second-highest flood alert. It has previously swept through Taiwan and the Philippines, where more than 20 people have died.
Typhoon Gaemi hit eastern Fujian province late Thursday local time near the city of Putian, a city of 3 million. State media said Friday that 628,000 people had been affected so far.
Even before the typhoon hit, local authorities had preemptively evacuated nearly a quarter of a million people and issued the second-highest flood alert level. President Xi Jinping met with top Communist Party officials to develop flood control and disaster relief plans. The flood situation was described as “grim and complicated.” There was no report of deaths or damage in the Middle Kingdom.
Cancelled flights, trains not running
In the morning hours, nearly half of takeoffs and landings were canceled at Quanzhou and Fuzhou airports in Fujian province and at Wenzhou airport in neighboring Zhejiang province, according to the VariFlight app. According to CCTV, the railway authorities in the southern province of Guangzhou suspended some routes that pass through areas affected by the typhoon.
Heavy downpours in the forecast
China's weather service downgraded Gaemi to a severe storm storm tropical with maximum wind speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour. According to forecasts, the element will move northwest across mainland China at a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour, losing intensity. At noon local time (morning in Poland), the center of Gaemi was more than 150 kilometers inland near the city of Nanping.
Despite the weakening typhoon, its giant storm bands will unleash heavy rainfall of up to 300 litres per square metre in some places and wind gusts of over 100 km/h in at least 10 Chinese provinces in the coming days.
Rainfall at Beijing Daxing AirportPAP/EPA/ANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES
Authorities said water levels in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River as well as in the vast freshwater lakes of Poyang and Dongting in central China could rise, returning to dangerous levels seen in early July after heavy summer rains.
Killed in Taiwan and the Philippines
In the previous days, a typhoon had passed over Taiwan, bringing with it storms, violent winds and heavy rains. Five people died and 688 were injured. Local media reported that three of the nine crew members of a cargo ship that sank off the coast of the island yesterday had been found alive on the shore. The search for the others is ongoing.
According to meteorologists, 1,000 l/m2 of rain fell in most of the country, and locally even 1,350 l. In many cities, the water level exceeded one meter. According to the services, Gaemi was the largest typhoon to appear in Taiwan in the last eight years.
The element also intensified monsoon rains in the Philippines in recent days. The downpours triggered several landslides that killed at least 20 people.
Main image source: PAP/EPA/ANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES