Ragasa weakens to tropical storm after killing 24 in Taiwan and the Philippines

Search and rescue crews cleared thousands of fallen trees and evacuated stranded residents on Thursday as tropical storm Ragasa weakened and moved toward Vietnam, leaving at least 24 dead across Taiwan and the Philippines after battering southern China as the year's strongest cyclone.

The storm pushed west along the southern Chinese coast after battering the Guangdong province and Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Ragasa, which was downgraded from a super typhoon to a storm in the meantime, peaked on Monday, when it reached maximum winds of 265 kph, making it the strongest cyclone of the year so far. By Thursday, these winds weakened to 65kph.

The storm brought heavy rainfall and fierce winds, flooding streets and uprooting hundreds of trees. In the Guangdong city of Yangjiang, over 10,000 trees were damaged, and emergency crews used excavators to clear toppled trees, local media reported.

In the city of Zhuhai, teams used inflatable boats to navigate flooded streets and rescue stranded residents. Water flooded some first-floor homes in older neighbourhoods, while many residents had sought refuge on higher floors of their homes.

In Hong Kong, businesses reopened and flights resumed again after roughly 1,000 had been disrupted, which affected 140,000 passengers.

Also in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, activities halted earlier in the week gradually returned to normal.

In Taiwan, torrential rain on Tuesday caused a barrier lake to overflow in Guangfu Township in eastern Taiwan's Hualien County, resulting in the collapse of a bridge and flooding the region's roads.

Authorities on Thursday revised the death toll from 17 to 14 due to repeated records.

At least 10 deaths were reported in the Philippines, including seven fishermen who drowned when huge waves and fierce winds overturned their boat in Cagayan province. Two fishermen remained missing on Thursday.