Typhoon Hato: 3 dead, over 8,000 displaced in China

At least three people were killed and 13 others have gone missing in disasters triggered by Typhoon Hato in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said on Saturday.

The floods, landslides and mudslides have affected more than 410,000 people in 64 counties, forcing evacuation of nearly 8,400 people and resulting in the collapse of 85 houses, according to the provincial civil affairs department.

Hato was the 13th typhoon to hit China this year. It made landfall Wednesday in the city of Zhuhai, southern China's Guangdong Province, and then moved west while losing strength.

It brought downpours to eastern and southern Yunnan from Wednesday till yesterday. Since Wednesday four monitoring stations in the province recorded precipitation of more than 250 millimetres.

Yunnan has activated an emergency response for disaster relief. Work teams and relief goods have been sent to affected areas.

In Yanjin county in the city of Zhaotong, rescuers are searching for six people who went missing after a flood caused by heavy rain, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The six, from two households, went missing yesterday after their riverside homes in Shizi township collapsed in the flood, according to the county publicity office.

Downpours have affected nearly 150,000 people in eight counties in Zhaotong, causing landslides and mudslides.

In Yiliang county of Zhaotong, a lake was formed after a landslide blocked a river at 5:40 am (local time) on Friday. More than 2,000 residents living downstream of the lake were evacuated to safety before it burst two hours later.

Rescue workers are taking care of relocated residents and making plans to repair the lake. In Jinping county in Honghe prefecture, six people remain missing after a mudslide destroyed seven homes on Saturday. 

Pakhar, the 14th typhoon this year, is forecast to land in Guangdong on Sunday, carrying winds of 28 to 35 metres per second.

Nine people were killed due to Hato in Guangdong which is still rebuilding in the aftermath of the disaster.

"It's impossible for us to restore everything in a short period of time, but the new typhoon is coming That's the biggest challenge. We're racing against time", said Xu Beilei, a disaster relief official in Zhuhai.