Live Tracking of Super Typhoon Gaemi: After hitting Taiwan, super typhoon heads towards China, killing 3

The Chinese city of Wenzhou has suspended 49 scheduled passenger ferry services due to the imminent threat of Typhoon Gaemi, state media reported.

Officials said the decision was taken as part of precautionary measures to ensure the safety of passengers and maritime operations.

Flights and trains have also been cancelled in Fujian province as the typhoon brings heavy rain and strong winds.

Most flights were cancelled at airports in Fuzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian province and Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, according to the Variflight app.

Guangzhou railway authorities suspended some train services passing through typhoon-hit areas, according to China Central Television (CCTV).

An oil tanker capsized off the coast of Limay, Philippines, early this morning, causing a massive oil spill. The vessel, MT Terra Nova, was carrying 1,494 tonnes of industrial fuel.

The Philippine Coast Guard is investigating the incident to see if it is linked to Typhoon Gaemi.

Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista confirmed the incident, saying strong winds and high waves hampered immediate response efforts.

Sixteen of the 17 crew members have been rescued, but one remains missing and a search is underway.

“At the time of the maritime incident, there were no disturbed weather conditions in the nearby waters,” Coast Guard spokesman Armando Barilo said.

Authorities are working to address the spill’s environmental impact as rescue and investigation efforts continue.

Chinese weather forecasters said Typhoon Gaemi would pass through Fujian province late on Thursday and then head inland, weakening before gradually moving north.

However, forecasters expect heavy rainfall in many areas as the typhoon moves northward.

Government authorities have already issued warnings and alerts in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang in preparation for heavy rains and flooding.

In Fujian province, government authorities have relocated about 150,000 people, mainly from coastal fishing villages, according to state media.

Authorities in Zhoushan city, Zhejiang province, suspended passenger waterway shipping for up to three days as strong winds intensified.

Most flights were cancelled at airports in Fuzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian province and Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, according to the Variflight app.

Guangzhou railway authorities suspended some train services passing through typhoon-hit areas, according to China Central Television (CCTV).

Meanwhile, summer storms are dumping heavy rains in northern China around a different weather system.

Authorities in the capital Beijing raised the alert level to a red alert late on Wednesday night, predicting heavy rainfall through much of Thursday, according to state media.

Heavy rain has already fallen in some areas, triggering emergency plans and evacuating more than 25,000 people, the Beijing Daily reported.

Some train services were also suspended at Beijing West Station, state media said.

The Beijing Fangshan District Meteorological Observatory expected many parts of the city to see more than 150mm (6 inches) of rainfall within six hours by 10am (2am GMT), while other areas would see more than 200mm (8 inches) within 24 hours, state television reported.

Taiwan’s fire authorities announced that a Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship carrying nine Myanmar nationals sank off the coast of the southern port city of Kaohsiung amid extreme weather conditions caused by Typhoon Kemi.

Officials said there was no response from the crew.

He added that the search operation was ongoing.

Typhoon Gaemi brought heavy rains, gusty winds and dangerous storm surges to Taiwan.

Typhoon Gaemi hit Taiwan, killing three people and injuring 266.

Authorities said a man riding a scooter was crushed by a fallen tree in southern Kaohsiung city before the storm hit, a woman was killed when a wall collapsed on her car in eastern Hualien and an excavator driven by a district leader overturned in New Taipei.

The storm made landfall on the coast of Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan at around midnight local time (5pm BST).

The storm was the strongest to hit the island in the past eight years, packing wind gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) before weakening, according to the China Central Weather Administration.

The island was hit by heavy rain and strong winds for hours.

Excess ocean heat may be fuelling typhoons approaching Taiwan.

Scientists say climate change is making typhoons – tropical cyclones that get their energy from absorbing heat from the ocean – more powerful, with faster winds and more rain.

Wind speeds at the storm’s center were approaching the second-highest ever recorded in the Western Pacific on Wednesday afternoon.

Typhoon Gaemi approached Taiwan and strengthened into a super typhoon before making landfall.

A super typhoon is an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that originates in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is characterized by sustained wind speeds of at least 150 miles per hour (241 kilometers per hour).

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) uses this classification to rank super typhoons as equivalent to the most intense hurricanes in the Atlantic and northeast Pacific, specifically categories 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

Historically, super typhoons have caused widespread damage, such as Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013 and Typhoon Meranti in 2016. Haiyan affected more than 14 million people and pushed 2.3 million into poverty.

Typhoon Meranti, which struck the Philippines, Taiwan and mainland China, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones on record, causing more than $2.6 billion in damages and killing more than 30 people.

Monsoon rains and typhoons have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in the Philippines.

Weather experts say Taiwan’s mountains caused the typhoon to change course.

Television weather forecaster Jeff Berardelli said friction between large mountains disrupted the storm’s path, deflecting it off course.

“I suspect there may be some geography at play, such as the high ground on the island deflecting it south from its usual path,” hurricane researcher Michael Ferragamo said.

The Ministry of Water Resources warned that Typhoon Gaemi was expected to bring heavy to very heavy rains across a wide area of ​​China from Thursday.

The rains are expected to continue for a week due to the large amount of moisture brought by the typhoon, he added.

China’s National Meteorological Center issued the highest level of red alert, according to Xinhua.