At least 12 killed by mudslide in China as storm Gaemi drenched region

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a landslide blocks a road in Shouyue Town of Nanyue District, Hengyang City, central China’s Hunan Province on Sunday, July 28, 2024. (Xinhua via AP)

BEIJING — At least 12 people were killed after a mudslide hit a homestay house in a tourist area in southeastern China on Sunday as heavy rains from what remained of a tropical storm drenched the region, state media said.

Elsewhere in China, a delivery person on a scooter was killed Saturday after being hit by a falling tree in Shanghai, apparently because of storm-related winds, according to The Paper, a digital news outlet.

The deaths were the first in China that appear linked to Typhoon Gaemi, which weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall on Thursday. Before reaching China, the typhoon intensified monsoon rains in the Philippines, leaving at least 34 dead, and swept across the island of Taiwan, where the death toll has risen to 10, authorities said late Saturday.

The mudslide struck the homestay house about 8 a.m. and trapped 21 people in Yuelin village, which falls under the jurisdiction of Hengyang city in Hunan province, state broadcaster CCTV said in a series of online reports. About 30 centimeters (12 inches) of rain was recorded in the area over a 24-hour period.

Six injured people were rescued. The reports didn’t say whether the injuries were serious. The owner of the house initially reported that 18 people were trapped, but a search and rescue team later determined that three more people were unaccounted for, CCTV said.

The one-story house offered food and accommodation near Hengshan, a mountain in a scenic area where tourists come on weekends to escape the summer heat, a report by The Paper said. The scenic areas had been closed starting Sunday because of the rains until further notice, even before the mudslide.

The CCTV reports said the mudslide was triggered by water rushing down the mountains from the rains. They didn’t mention Gaemi but the China Meteorological Administration said that heavy rain tied to the tropical storm hit southeastern parts of Hunan province on Saturday.

In Shanghai, a photo posted by The Paper showed a delivery scooter on its side mostly covered by leafy branches near the still-standing barren trunk of a tree. It said that winds from the storm were the suspected cause, and that the investigation was continuing.

The wide arc of the tropical storm also was bringing heavy rain about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away to China’s northeast.

The Linjiang city government in Jilin province posted a notice on social media asking residents living below the third floor to move to higher places on Sunday as the Yalu River, which forms the border with North Korea, rose above the warning level.

In neighboring Liaoning province, hundreds of chemical and mining companies suspended operations from Saturday as a precautionary measure and more than 30,000 people had been evacuated, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Nearly 40 trains were suspended through Thursday for safety reasons after steady rain in recent days created hazards and damaged tracks.

Two more people were reported dead in Taiwan, raising the death toll to 10, the island’s Central News Agency said, quoting the emergency operation center. Two others were missing, and 895 people were injured.

The latest victims were a man found in a drainage ditch and another man who died in a car accident.

More than 800 people remained in shelters in Taiwan as of Saturday night, and more than 5,000 households remained without power.

The typhoon caused nearly 1.7 billion New Taiwan dollars ($51.8 million) in damage to crops including bananas, guavas and pears; chicken and other livestock farming and oyster and other fisheries, the Central News Agency said, citing figures from the Ministry of Agriculture.

A cargo ship sunk off Taiwan’s shore during the typhoon, killing the captain, while eight other ships ran aground.