At least 39 people were killed in flooding after a tropical storm brought torrential rain to the country's south, Chinese authorities said Thursday, while the east coast and Taiwan braced for a typhoon expected to make landfall in the coming days.
Most of the deaths were in Hengzhou, where the partial collapse of a reservoir dam sent torrents of water into the city and claimed 26 lives, said Ding Wei, the vice mayor of Nanning city, which has jurisdiction over the area. Nine people remained missing in the broader Guangxi region.
Tropical Storm Maysak brought record rainfall to Guangxi starting Saturday, breaching reservoirs and stranding people for days in homes and other buildings. The previously announced death toll Tuesday was six people.
A second storm, Typhoon Bavi, was at sea on a northwest track that would take it over some remote Japanese islands and then just north of Taiwan before making landfall in China's Fujian or Zhejiang province on Saturday.
Fishing boats could be seen tightly packed at ports in northern Taiwan on Thursday in anticipation of heavy rain hitting the island of 23 million people.
Bavi, which brought violent winds to Saipan and other U.S. territories earlier this week, was downgraded Thursday from super-typhoon strength but still had maximum sustained winds of 184 kph (114 mph), according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration.
Classes were suspended in several cities and towns in the Philippines and ships were prohibited from leaving northern ports as the typhoon passed east of the northern island of Luzon.
In southern China, military rescue teams finished bringing out more than 10,000 trapped students and teachers from a cluster of schools in Guigang city, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Hengzhou.
Video on state broadcaster CCTV showed the students, wearing bright orange life vests, clambering onto boats that took them away from the surreal scene of school buildings rising out of a lake of muddy water.
Animals were also stranded or swept out by the floodwaters.
A zoo in Guigang said more than 100 animals were missing, including two zebras, four porcupines and dozens of tropical birds. In Hengzhou, encounters with snakes that reportedly escaped from a farm prompted authorities to stock up on antivenom and advise residents what to do if they were bitten.
An animal shelter operator in Binyang country, about 75 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Hengzhou, struggled in recent days to rescue about 200 cats and dozens of dogs, bringing the dogs two at a time through deep water. The cats climbed up to the rafters as the water level rose.
Drones and some 5,700 boats have been used in a massive relief and rescue operation to deliver drinking water and other supplies and bring out trapped residents. About 130,000 people have been evacuated.
Ding said the floodwaters are receding, but more rain is expected in some areas in the next two days. Crews have been deployed to clear mud and debris and disinfect several towns in Hengzhou.
Road repairs are ongoing and electricity has been restored to more than 60,000 homes, Ding said at a news briefing.
Heavier-than-expected rain battered southern Guangxi for days, with cumulative rainfall of 10 to 40 centimeters (4 to 16 inches) in some areas and more than 90 centimeters in hard-hit areas, the national meteorological center said.
Severe weather also hit central China this week, leaving 11 dead and many others homeless in Hubei province after thunderstorms and tornadoes on Monday night.
Elsewhere in Asia, landslides caused by monsoon rains have killed at least 13 Rohingya refugees in camps in Bangladesh this week. Authorities were moving refugees to safer areas Thursday.
