Torrential rains from Typhoon Gaemi devastate central China

At least 30 people are dead and 35 are missing in central China, state media reported, following days of torrential rain that lashed the country earlier this week.

The downpours were triggered by Typhoon Gaemi, which moved on from the Philippines and Taiwan to make landfall in eastern China a week ago, with hilly, landlocked Hunan province hit particularly hard.

More than 11,000 people had been evacuated from the city of Zixing after some areas endured record rainfall of 645 millimetres (25 inches) in just 24 hours, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Many roads connecting townships in the Zixing area were temporarily cut off by the extreme weather, which also affected the power supply and communications infrastructure.

Extreme weather fuelled by the most powerful tropical cyclone to hit China this year affected almost 90,000 people, damaging about 1,400 homes and tearing up about 1,300 roads, the People's Daily said earlier this week.

Casualties and missing persons

On Thursday, state broadcaster CCTV said that "the roads, electricity and communications in eight towns in Zixing city that were most severely affected by Typhoon Gaemi have basically opened".

"Initial findings show that there have been 30 deaths and 35 are missing," the report said, adding that search and rescue efforts were still ongoing.

On Tuesday Xinhua said four people had been killed and three people were missing in Zixing.

Three people were killed in Hunan's Yongxing county, Xinhua said Tuesday, while a landslide on Sunday killed 15 people elsewhere in the province.