Typhoon Gaemi Hits China’s South-Eastern Coast

Typhoon Gaemi has hit China’s south-eastern coast, after wreaking havoc in Taiwan and the Philippines.

Gaemi, the third and most powerful typhoon to hit China’s eastern seaboard this year, made landfall in Fujian province this evening. Earlier, it had battered Taiwan with winds reaching up to 227 kilometres per hour, among the strongest recorded in the Western Pacific Ocean. Around 2,40,800 people in Fujian were evacuated as a precautionary measure.

State media reported that flights, trains and ferry services were also cancelled in Fujian. Local media reported that Gaemi and its giant cloud bands are forecast to unleash intense rainfall in at least 10 Chinese provinces in the coming days.

Earlier, Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center said that a cargo ship had sunk after Typhoon Gaemi passed over the island overnight. Freighter Fu-Shun with a Tanzanian flag sank off the Kaohsiung Harbor coast, with nine crew members from Myanmar missing. Authorities said that the search operation will be carried out after conditions improve.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said that Typhoon Gaemi made landfall in Taiwan late yesterday, hitting the eastern Yilan County. It then moved to the Taiwan Strait early this morning. Typhoon Gaemi had swept up the western Pacific, intensifying seasonal rains earlier in the week in the Philippines, where the death toll climbed to 22.

In a related development, a tanker and a cargo ship have sunk and three other vessels run aground as Typhoon Gaemi made its way across Taiwan. Philippines authorities were scrambling to contain an oil spill after a tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of oil capsized in Manila Bay.

The MT Terra Nova had been heading for the city of Iloilo when it sank about 7 kilometres off the coast of Limay municipality in Bataan province in the early hours this morning. One of the 17 crew was missing and Philippines Coast Guard spokesman said that they were racing against time to contain an oil spill stretching several kilometres.