Eight people were killed and another is missing after thunderstorms and gales hit eastern Hubei Province on Monday night.

Emergency management authorities in the province said thunderstorms and strong winds hit Huangshi, Huanggang, Ezhou, and Xianning. Local authorities said some areas saw tornadoes.

Rescue operations are underway, authorities said.

The storms came as flooding killed at least two people in Nanning, as rivers and reservoirs swelled with the passage of Typhoon Maysak, and forecasters warned of another typhoon threatening the east.

Around 55,000 people were already affected by floods in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and waters were overflowing or breaking through barriers at three reservoirs, deputy mayor Wei Jiang said late on Monday.

Authorities raised the flood control emergency response to its highest level due to "extremely heavy rain" that they said could make things worse and hamper rescue efforts.

About 270 km away in the city of Guigang, floodwaters turned a wide road into a lake, submerging cars and cascading in brown torrents down a hill into a building site, a video posted on the Chinese social media platform Douyin showed.

Further south in Fangchenggang, another verified video showed a small car being washed down a street. The water rose to the level of another car's steering wheel, and a man could be seen struggling to keep his electric scooter from being swept away.

China is also on alert for Super Typhoon Bavi, which is making its way across the Pacific Ocean towards Taiwan.

The US National Weather Service said it was packing winds of up to 180 miles per hour as it made its way across Guam, Tinian, Saipan and Rota on Monday.

Weather authorities warned that Bavi will bring strong winds and heavy rain to eastern China from Thursday, according to Xinhua news agency. (Xinhua/Reuters)



Edited by Cecil Wong