Taiwan races to rescue sailors stranded by Typhoon Gaemi as China warns of wide impacts: Live updates
More than 290,000 people in China have been forced to flee their homes
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Your support makes all the difference.Taiwan’s coast guard is working to rescue dozens of sailors stranded off its southern coast after Typhoon Gaemi sank one freighter and left eight others stranded.
The typhoon flooded streets, knocked out power and killed at least five people in Taiwan before heading to China. It earlier killed 22 people in the Philippines.
Seventy-nine crew members are awaiting rescue on the eight freighters that were stranded, the coast guard said. Nine people were rescued earlier today from a Togo-flagged freighter stranded on a beach.
Typhoon Gaemi made landfall in China on Thursday evening, after officials issued widespread flood warnings and evacuations.
More than 290,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Fujian while emergency responses were put in place and flights and trains have been cancelled.
Gaemi is forecast to unleash intense rainfall in at least 10 Chinese provinces, including the capital Beijing, in the coming days, areas that have already been soaked by days of rainfall.
Gaemi has drawn comparisons with Typhoon Doksuri last year, which triggered historic flooding as far north as Beijing and caused nationwide losses of nearly $30bn.
Taiwan was forced to scale back annual war games ahead of Typhoon Gaemi
Taiwan has been forced to scale back its annual war games as it braced for Typhoon Gaemi.
The island is conducting the Han Kuang military drills involving its land, air and naval forces to simulate actual battle from Monday to Friday.
The air force drills off the east coast scheduled for Tuesday were cancelled, but naval and land exercises were set to continue in and around other parts of the self-governing island.
On Wednesday, schools, offices and financial markets also shut down leaving streets of Taipei empty as heavy winds and rainfall battered the island nation.
Shweta Sharma has more details.
Taiwan scales back annual war games as Typhoon Gaemi approaches
Air force drills off east coast cancelled but naval and land exercises set to continue
Excess ocean heat from climate change intensifies typhoon, say experts
Excess ocean heat may be helping fuel the typhoon that’s nearing Taiwan.
Scientists say climate change is making typhoons – tropical cyclones that gain energy by feeding on ocean heat – more intense, capable of reaching greater wind speeds and dumping more rain.
Wind speeds at the typhoon’s centre were approaching their second-highest ever recorded for the Western Pacific Ocean on Wednesday afternoon.
Typhoon may be briefly veering away from Taiwan
The typhoon may be temporarily looping back out into the Pacific after hitting the Taiwan coast, it’s been suggested, based on radar images:
Two more people killed in Taiwan
The death toll from the typhoon in Taiwan has risen to three.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency said more than 220 other people were injured as Typhoon Gaemi gathered strength and brought strong winds and heavy rain.
The three deaths included a driver pinned under his excavator after it overturned on a slippery road, a woman hit by a falling tree and a woman crushed in a car by a collapsing wall, the agency said.
Shelters open as storm threatens homes
Shelters have been opened in vulnerable areas, particularly in Taiwan’s mountainous centre and east that are prone to landslides and flooding, as the typhoon threatens to wreck homes.
Streets have been inundated in numerous towns and cities, and high winds knocked down pedestrians and riders of the island’s ubiquitous motor scooters.
Schools, offices and tourist sites were closed, and the storm prompted the cancellation of air force drills off Taiwan’s east coast.
In pictures: Storm inundates Philippines
Gaemi movement surprises experts
Meteorologists and cyclone researchers have been surprised by the path Typhoon Gaemi has taken.
One said it made a sharp unexpected turn south before slamming into the Taiwan coast, then looped around and was now heading for its second attempted landfall.
Radar images showed it moving anti-clockwise off the east coast.
Heavy rain over China predicted to last a week
Typhoon Gaemi is expected to bring heavy to very intense rains over vast swathes of China from Thursday, the water resources ministry warned.
The rains are expected to last for a week, fuelled by the typhoon’s abundant moisture, it added.
China’s National Meteorological Centre has issued a red alert, the highest level, according to Xinhua.
Mountains disrupt Gaemi’s circulation
Weather experts say Taiwan’s mountains have forced the typhoon to change course.
Television forecaster Jeff Berardelli said friction from the large mountains deflected the storm by disrupting its circulation.
Hurricane researcher Michael Ferragamo said: “I’d say there’s some sort of geography at play here, with the higher terrain of the island perhaps deflecting conventional motion to the south.”
Hundreds of thousands forced to flee homes
Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes in the Philippines, thanks to monsoon rains and the typhoon:
Monsoon rains worsened by offshore typhoon leave 8 dead and displace 600,000 in Philippines
Monsoon rains worsened by an offshore typhoon have left at least eight people dead and displaced more than 600,000 people
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