Typhoon Maysak kills two, forces thousands to evacuate in southern China

Typhoon Maysak has inflicted significant damage across southern China, resulting in two fatalities and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands. In Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province, about 55,000 people have been affected by floods, with waters overflowing or breaching barriers at at least three reservoirs. Consequently, approximately 48,000 people have been evacuated, and authorities have escalated the flood control emergency response to its highest level due to "extremely heavy rain."

Video footage from Guigang, located about 170 miles away, shows a wide road transformed into a lake, submerging cars and flowing into a construction site. The water level at the Guigang hydrological station reached 42 meters. In Fangchenggang, further south, a small car was seen being washed down a street, with floodwaters rising to the level of a car's steering wheel.

“

extremely heavy rain

This event underscores China's increasing vulnerability to extreme weather, which meteorologists link to the climate crisis. Analysts suggest that weather-related risks could cost the world's second-largest economy tens of billions of dollars annually through disruptions to cities, industrial activity, and agriculture.

Maysak made its first landfall in China's Hainan province on Friday and its second in Vietnam before moving into Guangxi. The storm brought down trees and ripped metal roofs from buildings in the Vietnamese border city of Mong Cai. Heavy rainfall is anticipated to continue across Guangxi, Guizhou, and Hunan, regions that are home to over 150 million people. Meanwhile, China is also on alert for Super Typhoon Bavi, which is tracking across the Pacific Ocean and is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to eastern China starting Thursday.

“

make things worse and hamper rescue efforts.