Beijing.- China reports at least 38 deaths due to a series of natural disasters in several regions, including storms and tornadoes in the central province of Hubei, rains associated with Typhoon Maysak in the southern Guangxi, and a landslide in the northwestern Gansu, while awaiting the possible impact of Super Typhoon Bavi at the end of the week.
The landslide that occurred on Tuesday in Gansu province left 21 dead after search and rescue operations concluded, the state agency Xinhua reported this Wednesday.
The landslide occurred around 06:56 local time on Tuesday (22:56 GMT on Monday) in the village of Renzang, under the administration of the city of Longnan, and initially buried 33 people, of whom 21 died, seven suffered minor injuries, and five were unharmed.
The local newspaper Beijing News reported that the group was heading to a wooded area to clear dry trees, and added that no rain had been recorded before the landslide.
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In the south of the country, Typhoon Maysak, the tenth of the season and the first to make landfall this year in China, left at least six dead and eleven missing in Guangxi, where torrential rains caused flooding and the breach of several reservoirs.
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According to the latest official report presented by local authorities this Wednesday, the storm forced the evacuation of 130,000 people and affected 375,000 residents throughout the region.
The Liulan reservoir, located in Hengzhou town, under the administration of Nanning, suffered two breaches totaling about 50 meters, through which a large volume of water began to flow into areas located downstream, according to witnesses cited by local media.
The rainfall associated with Maysak left accumulations of up to 553.8 millimeters in Guangxi, river flooding, urban waterlogging, and power outages.
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The latest available information shows that 341 reservoirs in the region exceed their flood limit levels and that 56 measuring stations on 41 rivers are reporting water levels above alert thresholds.
Rescue operations continue with more than 8,000 people, over 1,700 vehicles, and 5,700 vessels deployed for search and rescue, as well as for debris removal.
Meanwhile, in central China, in Hubei, provincial authorities raised the death toll to eleven on Tuesday after a severe convection episode struck several areas in the east of the province on Monday night, Xinhua reported.
The phenomenon, which combined thunderstorms, heavy rains, gales, and tornadoes in some locations, affected the cities of Huangshi, Huanggang, Ezhou, and Xianning.
This Monday, 53 municipalities recorded winds associated with thunderstorms, two of them at level 13, while some areas suffered tornadoes, according to authorities cited by Xinhua.
The official toll left 14,600 victims, eleven dead, one missing, and 331 injured.
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Bavi approaches the southeast
Super Typhoon Bavi, which made landfall two days ago in the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific, will hit Taiwan first between July 10 and 11, when it is forecast to pass through the northeast of the island, Taiwanese authorities predicted.
Meanwhile, authorities in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, located opposite Taiwan, activated an emergency response to the advance of Bavi, which has already caused relatively strong winds and waves along the provincial coast.
As of noon this Wednesday, Fujian had suspended eight passenger and ferry routes, halted 110 maritime projects under construction, and ordered the withdrawal of 275 work vessels to safe waters.
The National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center also issued a blue alert for swells, with waves of between 3 and 5 meters forecast for this Thursday in the southern East China Sea.
Since mid-May, China has been facing a succession of heavy rains in the center and south of the country, to which is now added the active phase of typhoons in its nearby seas.
