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Catastrophe

Deadly landslides hit southern China

October 1, 2016

The deadly storm raked across Taiwan before venting its fury on southern China. Thousands of Chinese soldiers have been deployed to help rescue stranded and missing residents.

https://p.dw.com/p/2QnTH
China Tropensturm Taifun Megi
Image: Getty Images/AFP/STR

Landslides triggered by a major typhoon have killed 13 people and left 20 missing in southeastern China.

Typhoon Megi packed strong winds and torrential rains when it slammed into China's southeastern coast earlier in the week, after rampaging across Taiwan.

China Tropensturm Taifun Megi
Typhoon Megi brought widespread flooding to Fuzhou in China's Fujian ProvinceImage: Picture-Alliance/AP/Chinatopix

Dozens of homes in the villages of Sucun and Baofeng in Zhejiang province were buried under mud.

Eight people were confirmed dead in a landslide in the village of Sucun, and five more were killed by a mountain collapse in Wencheng county.

More than 4,000 rescue workers are scrambling to find survivors, but their rescue efforts are being hindered by unrelenting rain and poor road conditions. Army soldiers are using picks to dig through mud, rocks and fallen trees.

Real-life horror

Video footage of the landslide showed torrents of water and rock pouring down a mountainside towards houses in the valley below while terrified onlookers screamed.

China Erdrutsch in der Provinz Zhejiang
Chinese rescuers search for landslide survivors at a village in Suichang county Image: Getty Images/AFP/STR

Before barreling into China, the typhoon raked Taiwan, killing seven people in a series of falls and other accidents during the storm. Three bodies were found in a home swamped by a landslide in southern Kaohsiung county.

More than 2 million people across three provinces have been affected by typhoon Megi, which destroyed about 1,200 houses.

Damage estimates in China are being put at 5.53 billion yuan ($835 million, 740 million euros).

In Taiwan, storm damage is estimated to have caused damage totaling $1.31 billion Taiwanese dollars ($42 million, 37 million euros). More than four million households are without power.

bik/jlw (AP, AFP)