At least 12 people were killed on Sunday when a landslide occurred at a bed and breakfast in a tourist destination in southeastern China after heavy rain from remnants of a tropical storm flooded the area, according to Chinese state media.
Elsewhere in China, a delivery man riding a scooter in Shanghai was killed on Saturday after being hit by a falling tree, apparently caused by heavy rains, according to digital news outlet The Paper.
The death toll is the first believed to have occurred in China after Typhoon Gaemi weakened to a tropical depression after making landfall on Thursday. The storm unleashed strong monsoon rains in the Philippines before reaching China, killing at least 34 people, and also battered the island of Taiwan, raising the death toll there to 10, authorities said late Saturday.
The landslide hit a bed and breakfast at about 8 a.m., trapping 21 people in Yuelin village, under the jurisdiction of Hengyang city in Hunan province, where about 30 centimetres (12 inches) of rain was recorded in 24 hours, state broadcaster CCTV said in a series of online reports.
Six injured people were rescued – reports did not say how serious their injuries were – and the homeowner initially reported that 18 people were trapped, but search and rescue teams later confirmed three more were missing, CCTV reported.
The newspaper reported that the single-storey house offers accommodation and meals near Mount Hengshan, a scenic spot that attracts tourists on weekends to escape the summer heat. Even before the landslide, the scenic spot had been closed since Sunday until further notice due to rain.
The CCTV report said the landslide was caused by water running off the mountains during rain.The China Meteorological Administration said on Saturday that heavy rains associated with a tropical storm had battered southeastern Hunan province.
In Shanghai, photos published by The Paper showed a delivery scooter lying on its side next to a still-standing tree trunk, nearly obscured by leafy branches. The Paper said the cause was likely strong winds from the storm and that an investigation was ongoing.
The tropical cyclone’s wide arc also brought heavy rains to areas about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away in northeastern China.
The Linjiang city government in Jilin province posted a notice on social media on Sunday urging residents living on the third floor or below to evacuate to higher ground after the water level of the Yalu River, which runs along the border with North Korea, exceeded the warning level.
In neighboring Liaoning province, hundreds of chemical and mining companies suspended operations from Saturday as a precautionary measure and more than 30,000 people were evacuated, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Nearly 40 trains have been suspended until Thursday for safety reasons after incessant rain in recent days created hazards and damaged railway tracks.
Citing Taiwan’s emergency response headquarters, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported two more people were killed, bringing the death toll to 10. Two more people were missing and 895 were injured.
The latest victims were a man found in a drain and another who died in a car accident.
More than 800 people in Taiwan remained in evacuation centres as of Saturday night, and more than 5,000 households remained without power.
The typhoon caused damage worth about NT$1.7 billion ($51.8 million) to crops such as bananas, guavas and pears, livestock such as chickens and fishing such as oysters, the Central News Agency reported, citing figures from the Ministry of Agriculture.
A typhoon caused a cargo ship to sink off the coast of Taiwan, killing the captain and leaving eight other ships stranded.
