Typhoon Lekima Kills 44 People In Eastern China

A powerful typhoon has left at least 44 people dead in China, after a landslide backed up a river that broke through debris and inundated homes, state media reported.

More than a million people were evacuated from their homes after Typhoon Lekima hit the eastern province of Zhejiang on Saturday with maximum winds of 116mph (187km/h), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The landslide occurred in Yongjia county on the outskirts of Wenzhou, a major port city. Heavy rain caused a natural dam to collapse and the resulting landslide blocked a river which rose to a level of 10m (30ft) within 10 minutes, trapping 120 villagers, Xinhua said.

State media said on Monday that the death toll had risen by 12 to 44. The additional victims included seven from Zhejiang province and five from Shandong. Sixteen people were still missing, according to data from provincial emergency bureaus and state media.

Thousands of flights were cancelled in eastern China, according to the country’s aviation regulator, with most flights into and out of Shanghai’s two main airports called off on Saturday afternoon, their websites showed.

China’s weather bureau on Saturday issued an orange alert – its second highest – after posting a red alert on Friday, when the storm forced flight cancellations in Taiwan and shut markets and businesses on the island.

The storm was moving northward at 9mph (15km/h) and was gradually weakening, Xinhua reported, citing the weather bureau. High winds and heavy rains battered the financial hub of Shanghai on Saturday afternoon, and Shanghai Disneyland was shut for the day.

Nearly 200 hundred trains through the city of Jinan in Shandong province had been suspended until Monday, Xinhua reported. More than 250,000 residents in Shanghai and 800,000 in Zhejiang province had been evacuated due to the typhoon, and 2.72m households in Zhejiang had power blackouts as strong wind and rain downed electricity transmission lines, state media reported.

About 200 houses in six cities in Zhejiang had collapsed, and 66,300ha (163,830 acres) of farmland had been destroyed, CCTV said. The storm reached Jiangsu and veered over the Yellow Sea before continuing north and making landfall again in Shandong province. Coastal businesses in Zhejiang were shut and the emergency management ministy warned of potential risk of fire, explosions and toxic gas leaks at chemical parks and oil refineries.