Typhoon Gaemi rages in northwest Pacific

More than 20 people have died in the Philippines after severe flooding and mudslides caused by Typhoon Gaemi. In Manila alone, where this man and his dog were brought to safety, six people drowned. The capital of the island state was the worst affected by the masses of rain, with some 600,000 people forced to flee their homes.

The typhoon caused a tanker carrying 1.4 million liters of oil to sink off the coast of Manila. Sixteen of the 17 crew members were quickly rescued, with heavy rain and swells hampering the rescue operations. Leaking oil could lead to a massive environmental disaster.

Residents of the Marikina city district in northeast Manila cleared the muddy streets after the floods. Thousands of people have lost everything. Zenaida Cuerda, a street vendor in Manila, told the AFP news agency that the food she had been selling had washed away and her house in Manila was flooded. "I have nothing now, that's my only livelihood," she said.

A bus in Quezon, a suburban district in the north of the Philippine capital, stands abandoned in the floods. The masses of water quickly reached chest height in parts of the city. Manila was not directly hit by the typhoon, but it intensified the seasonal monsoon rains. Schools and many offices remain closed.

Storms also caused flooding and mudslides in Taiwan. At one point, more than 450,000 households were without power. With wind speeds of up to 227 kilometers per hour (about 140 miles per hour), the typhoon hit Taiwan's northeast coast. Gaemi is the strongest cyclone to hit the region in eight years.

Flight operations at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan have since been suspended. Over 200 international flights were canceled, and passengers with destinations in the United States, Vietnam, Japan and Australia had to put up with long waits.

As the typhoon moved on from Taiwan to China, violent waves hit the coast in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian. Around 150,000 people were evacuated to safety from coastal towns. Many airplanes have been grounded, and traffic on waterways and affected train lines has been largely suspended.

In Manila, meanwhile, water levels are slowly dropping back to normal — leaving this tugboat stuck in deep mud. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has visited the affected districts, pointing out that floods had affected a greater area than when Typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines in 2009. "This is what the effects of climate change are," he warned.