00:00Typhoon Gaimi battered Fujian province with heavy rains and strong winds on Friday as
00:07it moved into China's densely populated interior.
00:10The storm has affected nearly 630,000 people in the province, with about half needing relocation.
00:18Earlier this week, it killed dozens in Taiwan and intensified seasonal rains in the Philippines.
00:24Gaimi was packing winds of more than 100 km per hour near its centre, down from nearly
00:30120 km per hour recorded when it struck Putian, Fujian on Thursday night.
00:36Although downgraded to a tropical storm due to reduced wind speeds, its extensive cloud
00:41bands still pose a significant flood risk, especially to rivers in central China already
00:47swollen from summer rains.
00:50Hours before the typhoon's arrival, President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party's Standing
00:54Committee held a special meeting on flood control, urging officials nationwide to protect
01:00lives.
01:01The meeting emphasised preventing breaches of major rivers and the collapse of large
01:05and key medium-sized reservoirs.
01:09On Thursday, Gaimi flooded cities in Taiwan, injuring over 700 people, killing seven and
01:15sinking a freighter off the coast.
01:21Rescuers evacuated nearly 1,000 people using inflatable boats.
01:26In the Philippines, the storm killed 32, prompted Manila to declare a state of calamity due
01:32to widespread flooding and sank a marine tanker carrying industrial fuel.
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