Typhoon Gaemi sinks freighter off Taiwan, heads to China coast

Typhoon Gaemi swept through northern Taiwan on Thursday, killing two people, triggering flooding and sinking a freighter offshore, before heading across the sea and into China where it is expected to dump more torrential rain.

Gaemi made landfall around midnight (1600 GMT Wednesday) on the northeastern coast of Taiwan in Yilan county. It is the strongest typhoon to hit the island in eight years and was packing gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) before weakening, according to the Central Weather Administration. 

As of 8:30 am (0100 GMT), it was in the Taiwan Strait and heading toward Fuzhou in China's Fujian province.

The storm cut power to around half a million households in Taiwan, though most are now back online, utility Taipower said.

Taiwan's fire department said a Tanzania-flagged freighter with nine Myanmar nationals on board had sunk off the coast of the southern port city of Kaohsiung and there had been no response from the crew. Search efforts were ongoing, it added.

The typhoon is expected to bring more rain across Taiwan, with offices and schools as well as the financial markets closed for a second day on Thursday.

Trains, including the high speed line linking northern and southern Taiwan, will be closed until 3 pm (0700 GMT), with all domestic flights and 185 international flights cancelled for the day.

Two people have died and 266 injured due to the typhoon, the government said. Taiwanese television stations showed pictures of flooded streets in cities and counties across the island.

Chinese weather forecasters said Gaemi will pass through Fujian province later on Thursday and head inland, gradually moving northward with less intensity. But weather forecasters are expecting heavy rain in many areas as it tracks north.

Government officials have already prepared for heavy rain and flooding, raising advisories and warnings in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.

In Fujian, government officials have relocated about 150,000 people, mainly from coastal fishing communities, state media reported. As gale force winds picked up, officials in Zhoushan in Zhejiang province suspended passenger waterway routes for up to three days.

Most flights were cancelled at airports in Fuzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian, and Wenzhou in Zhejiang, according to the VariFlight app.

Guangzhou rail officials suspended some trains that pass through typhoon-affected areas, according to CCTV.

Meanwhile, north China is experiencing heavy rain from summer storms around a separate weather system. Officials in capital Beijing upgraded and issued a red warning late Wednesday night for torrential rain expected through most of Thursday, according to Chinese state media.

Some areas have already experienced heavy rain and emergency plans were activated, with more than 25,000 people evacuated, according to Beijing Daily. Some train services were also suspended at the Beijing West Railway Station, state media said.

The Beijing Fangshan District Meteorological Observatory expects that by 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) many parts of the city will have more than 150 mm (6 inches) of rainfall in six hours, and in some other areas more than 200 mm (8 inches) in 24 hours, state television reported.