Ezra Acayan\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Heavy rainfall, gusty winds and a dangerous storm surge killed at least two people and injured nearly 300 others in Taiwan\u2019s northeast, according to the Central Emergency Operations Center. <\/p>\n
Taiwan remained largely shut down for a second day Thursday with flights canceled and financial markets, schools and offices closed as heavy rainfall continued to pummel the island. Some mountainous regions have reported up to 1,219 mm (48 inches) of rain. <\/p>\n
A cargo ship carrying nine crew members sank off Taiwan\u2019s coast in rough seas on Thursday, according to Taiwan\u2019s National Fire Agency. The Tanzanian registered vessel sank around 20 miles off the coast of the southern port city of Kaohsiung and was not equipped with a lifeboat. <\/p>\n
All nine crew members \u201cfell into the sea and were floating there\u201d wearing life jackets, Hsiao Huan-chang, the head of the National Fire Agency, said in a press conference. <\/p>\n
The island is expected to endure several more hours of torrential rain even as the typhoon\u2019s center moved into the Taiwan Strait Thursday and headed toward China. <\/p>\n
The storm is expected to make landfall in China\u2019s southeast coastal Fujian province, bringing more strong winds and downpours to a country already hit hard by weeks of extreme rain and deadly flooding. <\/p>\n
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Thursday said it was responding to a maritime incident involving an oil tanker that capsized off the coast of Bataan, west of Manila. PCG spokesperson, CG Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said 16 of the 17 crew on board had been rescued and search teams were continuing to look for the missing crewmember. <\/p>\n
Images show the coast guard launching a rescue operation and the ship almost fully submerged in rough seas. <\/p>\n
On land, the flooding has caused widespread disruption that forced authorities to close schools, businesses and cancel more than 150 flights on Thursday. <\/p>\n
Rescue services said Thursday they are continuing to pull trapped residents out of flooded buildings. Some homes could be seen completely inundated and vehicles submerged on flooded streets. <\/p>\n
Quezon City, north of Manila, was hit hard by the floods. The city government said in a post on X that more than 55,000 people, including nearly 16,000 families, had been evacuated and were sheltering in evacuation centers. <\/p>\n
The Philippine Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for donations to help the thousands of Filipinos affected by the typhoon-enhanced monsoon. <\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies and children are without water, electricity and basic services, whole others are stranded in knee- and chest- deep floods,\u201d it said in a post on X. <\/p>\n
Dramatic footage posted by Philippine media Wednesday showed several barges colliding with a bridge in Pasig City as the Marikina River \u2013 a major artery flowing through the capital \u2013 overflowed. <\/p>\n
Pasig mayor Vico Sotto told local media Wednesday night that a man was rescued from one of the barges and brought to a nearby hospital for treatment. <\/p>\n
At a situation briefing on the typhoon response on Thursday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stressed the need to urgently assess the flooding situation and requested local government units to deploy medical staff to evacuation centers. <\/p>\n
The widespread and destructive flooding has put fresh scrutiny on the Philippines\u2019 ability to respond to disasters. <\/p>\n
The archipelago experiences several typhoons a year, but the human-caused climate crisis has made storms more unpredictable and extreme \u2013 while leaving the nation\u2019s poorest most vulnerable. <\/p>\n
As the climate crisis worsens, typhoons are becoming more intense and destructive. In 2021, Super Typhoon Rai \u2013 known locally as Odette \u2013 killed more than 200 people when it slammed as an equivalent Category 5 hurricane into Siargao Island, a popular tourist and surfing destination on the central east coast. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms recorded in modern history, struck the Philippines in 2013 and killed more than 6,000. <\/p>\n
Experts have said countries in the Global South are reaching their limit of being able to handle climate and extreme weather disasters on their own and those living in low-lying, coastal areas will soon lose their homes to rising sea levels. <\/p>\n