Beijing: Typhoon Gaemi pummeled a town in China’s coastal Fujian province on Friday with heavy rains and strong winds as the most powerful storm to hit the country this year began its widely watched trek into the country’s populous interior.
The storm has affected at least 630,000 people in China’s Fujian so far, with almost half of them having to be relocated, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency. Earlier this week, it killed dozens of people as it swept through Taiwan and worsened seasonal rains in the Philippines.
Gaemi was packing winds of up to 100.8 kmph near its center, easing slightly from 118.8 kmph logged on Thursday night. While Gaemi has been downgraded to a tropical storm because of slower wind speeds, its vast cloud bands remain a significant flood risk.