Typhoon Lekima: Dozens dead and 16 missing as 130mph winds ravage eastern China

Landslide caused by rain makes river rise 30 feet in 10 minutes

More than 33 people have died and 16 are missing after powerful Typhoon Lekima hit China’s Zhejiang province, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Most of the victims died in Yongjia county, near the port city of Wenzhou, after a landslide caused by the rain made the river level rise 10m within 10 minutes, state-run news agency Xinhua said.

The landslide trapped 120 people in their homes, killing 23 with nine others reported missing.

State media footage showed rescuers wading in waist-high waters to evacuate people from engulfed houses in the hardest-hit areas.

Emergency crews worked to free people trapped in cars, and images showed the storm had brought down numerous trees.

Six others died elsewhere in Zhejiang province, three in Lin’an and three in Yueqing, the broadcaster CCTV reported.

More than a million people have been evacuated from their homes, including 253,000 in Shanghai.

Lekima caused at least 200 homes to collapse and damaged more than 173,000 hectares of crops and 34,000 homes in Zhejiang so far, with authorities putting losses at 14.57 billion yuan (£1.73bn), according to Xinhua.

Chinese state media said an estimated 2.7 million homes were without electricity after power lines were toppled by the high winds.

CCTV said some 3,200 airline flights in Shanghai, Hangzhou and other cities and some train services were cancelled. Authorities in Shanghai also shut down the high-speed magnetic levitation train to Pudong International Airport.

Shanghai Disneyland was closed, as were some popular tourist areas along the riverfront in the city’s historic Bund district.

Typhoon Lekima is slowly moving northwards and is expected to make a second landing on the coast of Shandong province late Sunday, although it has now been downgraded to a tropical storm.

The typhoon battered several small Japanese islands on Friday before moving to the north of Taiwan. The island called off classes and closed offices on Friday – with around 40,000 homes left without power.

Lekima was the ninth typhoon to hit China this year and the fourth typhoon in the western Pacific this week – with Typhoon Wipha having brought fierce gales and rain to China last weekend.

China issued a red alert for the typhoon – the most serious alert in its four-tiered system.

Additional reporting by AP and Reuters