Typhoon Gaemi has lashed towns on China’s coastal Fujian province with heavy rains and strong winds as the most powerful storm to hit the country in 2024 began its widely watched trek into the populous interior.

The storm, which has already killed dozens of people as it swept through Taiwan and worsened seasonal rains in the Philippines, has affected almost 630,000 people in China’s Fujian, with almost half of them having to be relocated, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Gaemi was still packing winds up to 101km/h near its centre, easing slightly from 119km/h logged on Thursday night when it landed in the Fujian city of Putian.

While Gaemi has been downgraded as a tropical storm due to the slower wind speeds, its vast cloud-bands remain a significant flood risk, particularly to rivers in central China already elevated due to an earlier bout of summer rains.

Scientists have warned that global warming was worsening tropical storms, making them less frequent but much more intense, according to a report published on Friday.

Typhoon Gaemi sank a freighter off the Taiwanese coast and grounded eight others. (EPA PHOTO)
Hours before the typhoon’s arrival, the Standing Committee of the Communist Party’s politburo, helmed by President Xi Jinping, held a special meeting on flood control and urged cadres across the country to protect lives.

Efforts must be made to prevent any breaches of major rivers and the collapse of large and key medium-sized reservoirs, according to a readout of the meeting published by Xinhua.

Due to the typhoon, 72 townships across Fujian recorded an accumulated precipitation exceeding 250 millimetres, with the highest reaching 512.8mm, local weather bureaus said.

By late Friday, Gaemi is expected to reach Jiangxi province, home to Poyang lake, China’s largest freshwater lake.

On Thursday, Gaemi swept through Taiwan with super-gales up to 227km/h and dumped more than 1800mm of rain in the island’s southern mountains, flooding several cities and towns.

It injured more than 500 people and killed five.

The typhoon also sank a freighter off the Taiwanese coast and grounded eight others, with the coast guard trying to rescue dozens of stranded sailors.

One crew member was found dead, four were rescued and four others were missing after a Tanzania-flagged cargo ship sank off Taiwan’s southern Kaohsiung port.

Seventy-nine crew members still awaited rescue on eight other freighters that were stranded, the coast guard said.

Nine people were rescued earlier today from a Togo-flagged freighter stranded on a beach.

Gaemi earlier killed 32 people in the Philippines, where its capital Manila declared a “state of calamity” after widespread flooding.

A marine tanker carrying industrial fuel also sank in rough seas off the Philippines.