At least 18 people have been killed and another 14 were missing as of 3:30 pm on Saturday due to a barrier lake burst as Typhoon Lekima swept through East China’s Zhejiang province, the local publicity department said.
Typhoon Lekima made landfall at about 1:45 am on Saturday in Wenling city, Zhejiang.
Typhoon-triggered heavy rainstorms hit the Yongjia County and caused a landslide that blocked the rivers with a maximum 10-m water level, trapping 120 villagers.
More than 300 local armed police, public security officers and other social rescuers were dispatched to the scene.
Rescue work is underway.
More than one million people were evacuated before the storm struck, Xinhua reported. That included 253,000 in Shanghai.
With a maximum wind force of 187 km/h, the super typhoon, the ninth typhoon this year, is expected to bring heavy rain to the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the municipality of Shanghai. The super typhoon weakened to a typhoon at 5 am at a maximum wind force of 144 km/h.
At noon on Friday, Zhejiang raised its emergency response to the top level. More than 700,000 people were relocated, among whom over 110,000 were settled in 12,000 shelters.
China Daily
