By Canadian Press

Typhoon leaves 28 dead in China, 20 still missing

Aug 11, 2019 | 4:38 AM

BEIJING — A powerful typhoon left at least 28 people dead in southeastern China, including more than 20 who perished after a landslide backed up a river that then inundated homes, state media reported Sunday.

Another 20 people remained unaccounted for in Zhejiang province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

After the landslide, the river rose to a level of 10 metres (30 feet) within 10 minutes, trapping 120 people in Yongjia county, Xinhua said. Twenty-two people died, and 10 were missing in the area, which lies on the outskirts of Wenzhou, a major port city.

Six others died elsewhere in Zhejiang province, three in Lin’an and three in Yueqing, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Typhoon Lekima made landfall at 1:45 a.m. Saturday in Wenling city, about 300 kilometres (190 miles) south of Shanghai, the China Meteorological Administration said.

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More than 1 million people were evacuated before the storm struck, including 253,000 in Shanghai.

Shanghai Disneyland was closed, as were some popular tourist areas along the riverfront in the city’s historic Bund district.

“Of course, it’s a little disappointing, but it’s because of the weather so we can all understand, right. This is a natural disaster, isn’t it?” said Wang Chunguang, who was visiting from Jiangsu province north of Shanghai.

CCTV said 3,023 airline flights in Shanghai, Hangzhou and other cities and some train services were cancelled. Authorities in Shanghai also shut down the high-speed magnetic levitation train to Pudong International Airport.

Lekima, downgraded to a tropical storm, was heading slowly northward along China’s east coast on Sunday morning.

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This story corrects the number killed in Yongjia county to 22, not 28.

The Associated Press