Typhoon Gaemi Triggers Landslides Killing 15 In China
By
OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Fifteen people have been killed in a landslide in China as the country battles deadly Typhoon Gaemi.
These are the first deaths linked to the tropical storm in China, which made landfall there on Thursday.
Gaemi has already killed 34 people in the Philippines and 10 in Taiwan.
Elsewhere in China, digital news outlet The Paper published a picture of a delivery driver in Shanghai who it claims died after being hit by a falling tree amid strong winds.
The mudslide in Yuelin village near Hengyang city, Hunan province, fell on a homestay at around 8am on Sunday, state media reported.
It happened after 12in (30cm) of rain fell in just 24 hours.
Six people were injured and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Beauty sports in Hunan, which is in southeastern China, were closed ahead of the landslide on Sunday.
The arc of the tropical storm has also brought heavy rain to Liaoning province, northeast of China – around 1,200 miles away from the Yuelin landslide.
The Linjiang city government in Jilin province posted on social media asking residents living below the third floor to move to higher ground on Sunday as the Yalu River, which forms the border with North Korea, rose above the warning level.
Hundreds of chemical and mining companies suspended operations on Saturday and more than 30,000 people had been evacuated, the Xinhua News Agency said.
In Taiwan, 895 were injured in the strongest typhoon to hit the country in eight years. Winds of 141mph (227kph) were reported, sinking two ships. Among the dead were a man found in a drainage ditch and another in a car accident.
More than 800 people were still in shelters on Saturday.
