Summary
Typhoon Gaemi has hit China's south-eastern coast, state media reports, after wreaking havoc in Taiwan and the Philippines
Three people died and hundreds more were injured when the storm passed over Taiwan earlier, while authorities in the Philippines say at least 21 people have died due to flooding and landslides
There has been particular devastation on the water, with officials rushing to contain an oil spill from a capsized ship near the Philippines
The MT Terra Nova sank in the Manila Bay while carrying 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel, prompting fears that it could be the worst oil spill in Philippine history - if not contained
Meanwhile, rescuers in Taiwan are scouring waters off its southern coast for six crew members of a sunken cargo ship - three have reportedly been found alive onshore
China was braced for the storm and had activated its highest-level disaster warning ahead of Gaemi's arrival
Live Reporting
Edited by Sam Hanco*ck
Typhoon wreaks havoc on China travelpublished at 10:12 25 July
10:12 25 July
The typhoon is expected to make landfall in the Fujian province in south-eastern China later on Thursday.
Heavy rainfall and gale force winds have already prompted the cancellation of trains and air travel there.
In nearby Zhejiang province, passenger ferries have been suspended, according to state media, and many flights have been cancelled too.
Meanwhile in Guangzhou, rail officials have also suspended some trains that pass through typhoon-affected areas, according to CCTV.
Watch: Oil tanker capsizes in Manila Baypublished at 10:06 25 July
10:06 25 July
Video footage has just been released by the Philippine Coast Guard that show a portion of the fuel tanker Terra Nova jutting out from the sea.
The ship capsized and sank in Manila Bay earlier today and authorities are racing to contain a resulting oil spill that has stretched about four kilometres.
It was carrying 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel.
Floods recede in Manila, revealing homes in ruinpublished at 09:53 25 July
09:53 25 July
Manila residents sifted through the mud-caked ruins of their homes today, seeking to salvage what they could after yesterday's torrential rains.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage source, Getty ImagesImage source, Getty ImagesWhat are the risks of Philippines oil spill?published at 09:42 25 July
09:42 25 July
Annabelle Liang
BBC NewsA sunken tanker in the Philippines has left an oil spill stretching for almost four kilometres (2.5 miles). But the impact could be far wider than what the eye can see.
In an ordinary clean-up, officials will immediately deploy booms, or temporary floating barriers, to limit how far the spill can spread.
However the rough weather has delayed these efforts, said Hernando Bacosa, an environmental sciences expert at the Mindanao State University.
Mr Bacosa said the amount of oil the vessel was carrying - around 1.5 million litres - makes the incident a "tier three, the highest tier in our national oil spill contingency plan".
"Manila Bay is also where the Port of Manila is, the biggest port in the Philippines and the center of trade and economic activity. This could actually possibly paralyse the capital and the neighbouring areas," he added.
Image source, Getty ImagesMind-boggling rainfall data in Taiwanpublished at 09:39 25 July
09:39 25 July
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
in TaipeiWe are starting to get more data from the Taiwan Central Weather Administration about the rainfall in several parts of the island.
The totals are quite mind-boggling. Four counties and cities saw over a thousand millimetres of rainfall during a 14-hour period ending Thursday afternoon.
Namely Chiayi (1,073 millimetres), Kaohsiung (1,352 millimetres), Pingtung (1,256 millimetres) and Yilan (1,250 milimetres).
This explains the extraordinary scenes of flooding - that is the result of very extreme amounts of rainfall.
Body of missing oil tanker crew member foundpublished at 09:19 25 July
09:19 25 JulyBreaking
Philippine Coast Guard personnel have found the body of the missing crew member of an oil tanker that sank in Manila Bay earlier today.
Sixteen crew members were rescued earlier.
'Enormous' amount of oil had spilled alreadypublished at 09:13 25 July
09:13 25 July
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has detected an oil slick from the MT Terra Nova, stretching about 3.7km (2.2 miles), describing it "enormous".
A "strong current" is carrying the oil in a north-east direction.
"It will definitely affect the marine environment," said Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, spokesman of the PCG.
Earlier, we reported about officials saying that they were in a race against time to contain the spill and prevent it from reaching the capital, Manila.
Life almost back to normal in the capital Taipeipublished at 09:09 25 July
09:09 25 July
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
in TaipeiIt's a huge contrast between the south and here in the north of Taiwan.
In Taipei it's still raining but life is pretty much getting back to normal now. The buses are running, there is traffic in the streets.
Most businesses, banks, shops are still closed but there's no real damage - the metro is running, buses are carrying on their routes and the high speed rail line is about to get started. So life here will rapidly get back to normal.
Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockPhilippines rushing to contain oil spill before it reaches Manilapublished at 08:56 25 July
08:56 25 July
Philippine authorities are rushing to contain the oil spill from the MT Terra Nova that sank in the Manila bay while carrying 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel. The Coast Guard says there's a danger that it could reach the shores of the capital, Manila.
Manila Bay straddles the Philippines capital region of 15 million people.
Manila's seafront is a major commercial and tourism centre, home to giant shopping malls, call centres and casino resorts.
Manila Bay also straddles provinces with large fishing communities and industrial zones.
"There is a big danger that Manila will be affected, even the shoreline of Manila, if the fuel will leak, because it is within Manila Bay," said Rear Admiral Armand Balilo of the Philippine Coast Guard.
What we know about the capsized shipspublished at 08:43 25 July
08:43 25 July
Tanzania-flagged vessel Fu Shun was docked in southern Taiwan when it capsized,
The freighter, which is designed to carry cargo, had nine crew members on board. It is not clear what cargo it might have been carrying.
The Fu Shun was almost 40 years old and measured around 55m (180ft) in length, according to tracking service provider VesselFinder.
Meanwhile, the Philippine-flagged MT Terra Nova which capsized in Manila bay, was carrying close to 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel.
It was heading for the central city of Iloilo when it capsized, leaving an oil spill stretching for almost four kilometres.
MT Terra Nova, which was more than 20 years old, was sailing at a speed of 0.1 nautical miles per hour, according to VesselFinder.
Image source, Getty ImagesWhy the typhoon slowing down made the flooding worsepublished at 08:34 25 July
08:34 25 July
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
in TaipeiImage source, Taiwan Central Weather AdministrationAs this map of the rainfall brought by Typhoon Gaemi shows, very large parts of the centre and south of Taiwan have had an excess of 30cm of rainfall over a period of just 12 hours, with rivers and drainage systems struggling to hold the water.
This is exactly what we should have expected given how the typhoon behaved over the last 24 hours - which is that it came up to the east coast of Taiwan, basically stalled and then gradually moved across the island during the night - but very slowly.
What that has meant is even though the destructive winds were not as bad as people might have feared, it means that there has been an enormous amount of rainfall dumped during that period. The slower a typhoon moves, the more rain gets dumped into the particular area it's over.
And though the storm has largely passed now, the flooding could actually get worse - with obviously a lag between the time the rain falls and the time it ends up in the rivers and then downstream towards the coast.
State of calamity in the Philippine capitalpublished at 08:22 25 July
08:22 25 July
Over in the Philippines, the government has placed the capital region of Metro Manila, home to roughly 15 million people, under a state of calamity.
The declaration will allow local officials to spend emergency funds for relief operations.
Heavy rains are forecast to continue today, but our colleagues in Manila say conditions are better compared to the previous day.
Schools and some offices remain shut.
Image source, Getty ImagesWhat is the predicted path of the typhoon?published at 08:11 25 July
08:11 25 July
Typhoon Gaemi made landfall in Taiwan around midnight local time on Wednesday (16:00 GMT), on the north-eastern coast close to Yilan county.
The typhoon was originally expected to hit further north, but the mountains of northern Taiwan steered it slightly south towards the city of Hualien.
The typhoon is expected to weaken as it tracks over the mountainous terrain of Taiwan before re-emerging in the Taiwan Strait towards China.
A second landfall is expected in the Fujian province in south-eastern China later on Thursday.
'The water came up to my waist'published at 08:05 25 July
08:05 25 July
A resident from Kaohsiung city told the BBC that all seemed "fine" when she woke up at around 07:00 local time (23:00 GMT).
But two hours later, water gushed into her apartment complex, submerging a parking area located on the lower level. She said water levels came up to the waist of her 152cm (5'2) frame.
"The water came in very fast. Even though we had some (equipment) to pump the water out, everything was too fast," she said.
Dozens evacuated in Taiwan as streets turn to riverspublished at 07:40 25 July
07:40 25 July
We have received images of severe flooding in Taiwan from rescuers on the ground.
Here is the situation in the rural township of Shuishang in the south-west, where dozens of people have been evacuated on rubber boats.
Image source, Chiayi County Fire BureauImage source, Chiayi County Fire BureauImage source, Chiayi County Fire BureauThree dead in Taiwanpublished at 07:26 25 July
07:26 25 July
We reported earlier that three people have been killed in Taiwan during the typhoon.
According to officials, a woman died when a falling tree hit her motorised scooter. Another man was crushed by an excavator when it overturned, and the third woman died after a wall fell on her car.
More than 200 people have been injured, and power has been cut to more than 290,000 homes, disaster officials said.
'Race against time' to contain Philippines oil spillpublished at 07:13 25 July
07:13 25 July
A tanker carrying almost 1.5m litres of industrial fuel has also capsized off the Philippines, leaving an oil spill stretching several kilometres.
Sixteen crew members of the MT Terra Nova have been rescued but one remains missing, authorities say.
The strong winds and rain are making the search and efforts to contain the spill difficult, they added.
"We are racing against time," Philippine coast guard spokesperson Armando Balilo told a briefing.
Although the typhoon did not make landfall in the Philippines, it exacerbated a monsoon and brought relentless rain to the capital region and northern provinces on Wednesday.
Typhoon season picks up with Gaemipublished at 07:00 25 July
07:00 25 July
The Pacific typhoon season started a few weeks back, but has only picked up with Gaemi.
It is the first to make landfall in Taiwan this year and the third to enter the Philippines' area of responsibility.
While it did not hit land in the Philippines, Gaemi intensified seasonal monsoon rains, triggering widespread flooding.
Typhoons that form over the Pacific move north-west, in the direction of the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
The typhoon is expected to cross northern Taiwan today before moving to the Chinese mainland.
The storms winds are forecast to weaken as it heads deeper inland.
What do we know about the missing crew?published at 06:58 25 July
06:58 25 July
Image source, Taiwan Coastguard AdministrationTaiwanese officials say they are nine Myanmar nationals aboard the Tanzania-flagged vessel Fu Shun.
A vessel owned by Taiwan China Steel Corp said it came close to the ship but could not get close enough to mount a rescue.
The Taiwan coastguard said that the crew are believed to be wearing life jackets, but could not see the men themselves. They said they were unable to launch a rescue operation now because weather conditions were severe.
Separately, Taiwan's Coastguard Administration said three other foreign vessels had run aground during the typhoon, but were safe.
Welcome to our live coveragepublished at 06:38 25 July
06:38 25 July
Yvette Tan
Live editorWelcome to our live coverage as Typhoon Gaemi continues to sweep over Taiwan.
The bad weather has resulted in a Tanzania-flagged vessel docked off southern Taiwan to capsize. Nine crew members are missing. Officials are saying that the weather is too bad for them to mount a search and rescue operation to find the missing crew members.
Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast on Wednesday, has killed three people and injured hundreds more on the island, officials said.
The storm has also brought relentless rain to the Philippines, where a tanker carrying close to 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel has capsized.
Sixteen crew members of the Philippine-flagged MT Terra Nova have been rescued while one remains missing, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said. The bad weather has also killed eight people in the Philippines.
The Typhoon is expected to make a second landfall in mainland China after passing through Taiwan - stay with us as we bring you the latest.
