BEIJING, July 26, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Authorities evacuated nearly 300,000
people and suspended public transport across eastern China on Friday, as
Typhoon Gaemi brought torrential rains already responsible for five deaths in
nearby Taiwan.

Gaemi was the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in eight years when it made
landfall on Thursday, flooding parts of the island's second-biggest city.

It also exacerbated seasonal rains in the Philippines on its path to Taiwan,
triggering flooding and landslides that killed 20 people.

A tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of oil sank off Manila on Thursday, with
authorities racing to contain a fuel spill.

It had weakened by the time it made landfall in China's eastern Fujian
province shortly before 8:00 pm local time (1200 GMT) on Thursday, state
media said.

China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with heavy rains across the
east and south coming as much of the north has sweltered under successive
heatwaves.

The country is by far the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gases
scientists say are driving climate change and making extreme weather more
frequent and intense.

- Heavy rains -

Chinese authorities warned Typhoon Gaemi was bringing with it torrential
rains that could cause flooding.

They have relocated more than 290,000 people in Fujian and shut down public
transport, offices, schools and markets in some cities.

In neighbouring Zhejiang province, footage aired by state broadcaster CCTV
Friday showed streets turned into rivers, trees strewn over roads and bikes
struggling through knee-high waters.

The province's Wenzhou city -- home to nine million people -- has issued its
highest warning for rainstorms and evacuated nearly 7,000 people, CCTV said.

The typhoon will also bring heavy rainfall to central Jiangxi and Henan,
state media said.

Guangdong, China's most populous province, on Friday suspended some passenger
train services ahead of the typhoon's expected arrival, CCTV said.

Citing the official China Weather Network, the broadcaster said the typhoon
was moving northwestward at about 20 kilometres per hour.

It will "gradually weaken" as it makes its way to Jiangxi on Friday late
afternoon, it said.

No deaths or injuries have yet been reported.

The north of the country has this week also been hit by showers, with state
media saying Friday that heavy rains had killed one and left three missing in
the northwestern province of Gansu.

At a meeting of the country's top leadership chaired by President Xi Jinping
on Thursday, officials urged local authorities to stay "highly vigilant and
proactive" as the country entered peak flooding season.