Typhoon Gaemi has reached southeastern China after churning across the Taiwan Strait.
The typhoon has prompted warnings of swelling rivers, flash floods and waterlogging in cities and provinces that were hit by extreme rains several weeks ago.
The third and most powerful typhoon to hit China’s eastern seaboard this year made landfall in Fujian province at 7:50 pm (11:50 GMT) on Thursday after whipping Taiwan with gusts of up to 227 kilometres per hour (141 miles per hour), some of the strongest winds recorded in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Before its arrival, 240,800 people in Fujian were evacuated.
Despite slightly weakening since its landfall in Fujian’s Putian, a city of more than 3 million people, Gaemi and its giant storm bands are forecast to unleash intense rainfall in at least 10 Chinese provinces in the coming days.
The arrival of Gaemi has drawn comparisons with Typhoon Doksuri last year, which triggered historic flooding as far north as Beijing and caused nationwide losses of nearly $30bn.
Authorities said water levels in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River as well as the vast freshwater lakes of Poyang and Dongting in central China could rise, returning to dangerous levels seen in early July after intense summer rains.
Beijing cautioned that due to its high vapour content, Gaemi could lead to strong rainfall in the Chinese capital, about 2,000km (1,242 miles) north of Putian, even as the storm weakens into a tropical depression.
Authorities warned that Gaemi’s rains could cause flash floods and waterlogging, particularly in parts of northern China, where the soil remains saturated after being lashed by a passing system of storms earlier this week.