(Bloomberg) -- Authorities in Taiwan raced to find crew missing from a ship that capsized in bad weather after Typhoon Gaemi ripped through the region before losing strength as it heads toward China.
Nine Myanmar nationals were missing from a cargo vessel that was “in distress” off Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung, and nearby ships were surveying the area for survivors, the transport ministry said.
In the Philippines, a tanker carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil capsized on Thursday and caused a spill. One of the crew members died, but the 16 others were rescued, the nation’s coast guard said, adding that environmental protection personnel had been deployed to “combat the oil spill.”
Briefly a super typhoon, Gaemi brought winds of up to 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour and torrents of rain that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, flooded streets and left at least 24 people dead in the two archipelagos.
But the system was losing strength as it headed toward China’s southeastern coast on Thursday. It was downgraded to a tropical storm by the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which said it was expected to approach land with winds of 69 miles per hour, down from 109 mph as it cut across Taiwan.
China’s weather agency renewed a red alert, the most severe warning, over the storm and the transport ministry upgraded its emergency response to its second-highest level. Hong Kong may issue a strong monsoon warning.
Coastal provinces near Gaemi’s path have begun taking precautionary measures, including evacuating tourists from island resorts, asking ships to take shelter and announcing suspensions of train and ferry services. Heavy rain is also affecting other areas of the country, resulting in flood warnings in the Beijing region and the suspension of open-pit mining in some coal production hubs.
In the Philippines, Typhoon Gaemi killed at least 22, according to local police. That’s more than the official toll of 13 fatalities from the monsoon rains compounded by recent storms, which have affected nearly a million people. But parts remain flooded and there are periodic downpours, and it may be days before the full human and economic cost to the archipelago becomes clear.
The typhoon also disrupted power to hundreds of thousands of customers, with about 330,000 customers still affected as of 10 a.m., according to Manila Electric Co., the Philippines’ biggest private electricity distributor.
The Southeast Asian nation kept currency trading suspended on Thursday, while stocks reopened even as bond trading was halted. Taiwan’s $2.5 trillion stock market also remained closed — the first time since 2016 it was shut for two straight days because of a typhoon.
Taiwan had braced for the impact. Well before landfall, the storm lashed the island with powerful gusts and downpours. Two people died, according to authorities, though state-owned Central News Agency earlier reported three deaths. The island suffered at least NT$50.78 million ($1.5 million) in losses due to damage to agricultural products and private facilities, its agriculture ministry said.
Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said the intensity of the storm had weakened over the past few hours, but warned people in the island’s south of extremely heavy rain.
More than 662,000 households lost electricity during the storm though power had been restored to many, according to state utility Taiwan Power Co.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the main chipmaker for Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., said it was taking routine precautions for its local fabrication facilities. There has been no impact to operations due to the typhoon so far, according to a spokesperson.
--With assistance from Bingyan Wang, Jane Lanhee Lee, Ditas Lopez, Felix Tam, Dan Murtaugh, Yian Lee and Nurin Sofia.
(Updates with ships capsizing in Taiwan, Philippines; adds details throughout.)
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