Dozens dead in eastern China as Typhoon Lekima carves destructive path
- Heavy rain across several provinces threatens further damage as rivers and reservoirs reach their limits
Lekima, the fifth-worst typhoon to have hit China in 70 years, killed 44 people in the east of the country and caused heavy flooding as it moved north, authorities said.
Several provinces had been battered by torrential rain – as much as 732mm (29 inches) – since Lekima made landfall at Wenling in Zhejiang province on Saturday morning, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Monday.
Heavy rain pushed 73 rivers in Shanghai and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces past danger level and 38 of those burst their banks, including three that broke records for flooding, the ministry said.
A landslide in Shanzao, Yongjia county in Zhejiang, blocked a river and pushed the water level up 10 metres in 10 minutes on Saturday. A barrier quickly collapsed, flooding the village. State broadcaster CCTV said than by Monday morning, 27 bodies had been recovered from Yongjia, with five people missing.
Across Zhejiang, 39 people were killed by the typhoon, 234,000 hectares (578,000 acres) of crops was destroyed and 41,000 houses were damaged, the broadcaster reported.
Shanzao resident Pan Jianli told CCTV he heard a loud noise at around 4am on Saturday, and by the time he got up water had reached the first floor of his home and kept rising.