HONG KONG/TOKYO/TAIPEI: Widespread floods triggered by heavy rain from Typhoon Narra intensified on Tuesday across southern China, with homes and shops submerged and thousands of people relocated, while another storm system made its way towards Japan and Taiwan.
Authorities in Chongzuo, in China's Guangxi region, famous for its giant waterfalls and karst limestone mountains, evacuated more than 15,000 people after water levels surpassed a record high set in 2008.
Rising floodwaters have prompted China to relocate a total of 54,000 people in Guangxi, state television said.
Narra has lingered over the Beibu Gulf, also known as the Gulf of Tonkin, in the northwestern part of the South China Sea for several days, dumping heavy rain on Guangxi and the nearby provinces of Hainan and Guangdong.
Heavy rain is expected to persist across parts of Vietnam and southern China through Wednesday, with areas of Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan and Fujian forecast to receive torrential rain, state media said.
In Chongzuo, river water overflowed into the city, with water levels reaching the rooftops of some buildings and power lines.
A notice from Chongzuo authorities on Monday ordered all businesses and tourist operations to cease and urged evacuated residents not to return to high-risk areas.
TYPHOON SAUDEL APPROACHES JAPAN, TAIWAN
Meanwhile, medium-strength Typhoon Saudel moved towards southern Japan and northern Taiwan where it is expected to bring sporadic heavy rain, as Taiwan reported one dead and four missing from a separate weather system over its south and east.
Japan's weather agency warned of destructive gusts as Typhoon Saudel approached the southwestern islands of Okinawa prefecture, also causing extremely strong winds and high seas.
Saudel is expected to pass to the north of Taiwan and dump water on its north starting late Thursday and into Friday, though its intensity is forecast to gradually weaken and its storm-force wind radius to shrink, the island's Central Weather Administration said.
However, there is uncertainty about the timing and extent of the typhoon's rainfall impact, it added.
In southern and eastern Taiwan, the government reported one person dead and four missing from a tropical depression that brought flooding in the cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung, home to more than 4 million people.
During the three days from Sunday to Tuesday, almost a metre (3.9 feet) of rain fell in Kaohsiung, which the government said exceeded rainfall during 2009's devastating Typhoon Morakot that killed about 700 people and caused damage of up to US$3 billion.
Saudel is forecast to hit the coast in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian from late Thursday to early Friday.
