Several people have been killed after heavy rains hit parts of Asia over the past week, brought by the latest in a series of typhoons that scientists warn are growing more frequent under climate change.
Typhoon Wutip started out as an area of convection west of Micronesia, according to a June 5 weather advisory from the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It developed into a low-pressure area the next day, causing heavy rains and fueling the southwest monsoon in the Philippines. At least three people drowned after attempting to swim across an overflowed spillway in the province of Misamis Oriental.
As Mongabay has previously reported, scientists say climate change is making such extreme weather events in the Philippines more common.
By June 9, the storm had developed into a tropical depression over the South China Sea. It intensified into Tropical Storm Wutip on June 11 and flooded parts of Vietnam, where at least seven people were killed. The number of deaths caused by disasters in Vietnam tripled in 2024 compared to the year before.
More than 100 houses were damaged and at least 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) of farmlands were flooded. A number of roads were also flooded, including parts of a national highway. Rescue operations were still underway for missing people over the weekend, local media reported.
The bad weather forced the Miss Vietnam beauty pageant to reschedule its final event, which was supposed to be held outdoors.
By June 14, Wutip had intensified into a typhoon and made landfall in southern China, with wind gusts of 128 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour). Residents were evacuated before the typhoon made landfall, schools were closed, and train services and flights were suspended.
Two deaths were reported in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on June 15 due to mudslides. Another two people were rescued by emergency response teams.
Local media showed photos of toppled trees in Hainan province. One report said early evacuation in China’s Guangdong province saved more than 50 people from a landslide. Risk inspectors observed slope movements while on midnight patrol on June 15, which prompted the evacuation before the landslide happened at 4 a.m.
A father and his son survived 26 hours at sea after being swept away by the typhoon off Hainan province, local media reported. Wearing life jackets, they drifted into some fishing rafts in Guangdong, but the father was swept farther out to sea. The father was found near an abandoned net cage after his son was brought to hospital.
Wutip, which means “Butterfly” in Cantonese, eventually weakened into a tropical storm over the weekend as it skirted Hong Kong, but not before buffeting it with strong winds.
Hong Kong’s weather bureau forecast that Wutip would dissipate by June 16 or 17.
Banner image of Wutip as a severe tropical storm on June 14, 2025 by the Japan Meteorological Agency via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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