At least 22 people were killed and a dozen others were missing after Typhoon Lekima triggered a landslide in eastern China. The cyclone left a trail of destruction in its wake and caused the evacuation of over one million people.

The enormous cyclone made landfall in the province of Zhejiang early on Saturday. As it barreled inland, it caused a natural dam to collapse, leading to the deadly landslide which took place around 130km north of the coastal city of Wenzhou, CCTV reported.

Super Typhoon Lekima loading in our city pic.twitter.com/EKfCkKlSEf — Helen Huang (@helenhuang03) August 10, 2019

Authorities ordered the evacuation of more than 800,000 people from Zhejiang province and a further 250,000 from Shanghai. High winds and heavy rains battered the financial hub on Saturday afternoon.

Chinese media is reporting that around 200 houses across Zhejiang have collapsed and 66,300 hectares (163,830 acres) of farmland has been destroyed. Nearly three million households suffered power blackouts due to fallen electricity lines.

It also caused the cancelation of more than 3,000 flights at airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu. Shanghai Disneyland was also shut due to the storm.

The typhoon is predicted to hit Jiangsu province early on Sunday morning before veering over the Yellow Sea and continuing north, where it will then make landfall again at Shandong province, CCTV said.

A total of 3023 flights have been cancelled by Chinese airlines and some airports in eastern China have been temporally closed on Sat due to gale and rainstorm brought by the typhoon #Lekima. pic.twitter.com/x2cgQ8FvGi — People's Daily, China (@PDChina) August 10, 2019

Like this story? Share it with a friend!