Beijing, China –

Fifteen people have died after a mudslide hit a guesthouse in a tourist area in southeastern China on Sunday, as the region was battered by heavy rain from what was left of a tropical storm, state media reported.

Elsewhere in China, a deliveryman on a scooter was killed on Saturday after being hit by a falling tree in Shanghai, likely caused by strong winds, according to The Paper, a digital news platform.

The deaths were the first in China that appeared to be linked to Typhoon Gaemi, which weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall on Thursday. Before the typhoon reached China, monsoon rains intensified in the Philippines, killing at least 34 people, and lashed the island of Taiwan, where the death toll rose to 10, authorities said late Saturday.

The mudslide hit the guesthouse after 8 a.m., trapping 21 people in Yuelin, a village under the jurisdiction of Hengyang city in Hunan province, state broadcaster CCTV reported in a series of online reports. About 30 centimeters (12 inches) of rain was recorded in the area over a 24-hour period.

Six injured people were rescued and taken to hospital for treatment, the official Xinhua news agency said. The media did not report whether the injuries were serious.

The single-story house offered food and lodging near Hengshan, a mountain in a scenic area that tourists flock to on weekends to escape the summer heat, according to a report by The Paper. The scenic areas had been closed since Sunday due to the rains until further notice, even before the mudslide.

CCTV reports said the mudslide was caused by water flowing down the mountains due to rainfall. They did not name Gaemi, but the China Meteorological Agency said heavy rains associated with the tropical storm hit southeastern parts of Hunan province on Saturday.

In Shanghai, a photo posted by The Paper showed a delivery scooter on its side, largely covered in leafy branches, near the still-bare trunk of a tree. It said winds from the storm were the suspected cause and that the investigation was ongoing.

The tropical storm’s broad arc also brought heavy rainfall about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away to northeastern China.

The Linjiang city government in Jilin province posted a message on social media on Sunday urging residents living below the third floor to move to higher ground as the Yalu River, which forms the border with North Korea, rose above the alert level.

In neighboring Liaoning province, hundreds of chemical and mining companies suspended operations from Saturday as a precaution and more than 30,000 people have been evacuated, the official Xinhua news agency said. Nearly 40 trains were suspended through Thursday for safety reasons after persistent rains in recent days caused hazards and damaged tracks.

Two more deaths were reported in Taiwan, bringing the death toll to 10, the island’s Central News Agency said, citing the emergency operations center. Two others were missing and 895 people were injured.

This drone photo released by Xinhua news agency shows a landslide destroying a house in Yuelin village, Shouyue town, Hengyang city, central China’s Hunan province, on Sunday, July 28, 2024. (Chen Zhenhai/Xinhua via AP)

The latest victims were a man found in a drainage ditch and another man who died in a car accident.

As of Saturday evening, more than 800 people in Taiwan were still in shelters and more than 5,000 households were without power.

The typhoon caused nearly 1.8 billion new Taiwan dollars (54.9 million U.S. dollars) in damage to crops including bananas, guavas and pears, as well as to chicken and other livestock farms and to oyster and other fisheries, the Central News Agency reported, citing figures from the Ministry of Agriculture.

During the typhoon, a cargo ship sank off the coast of Taiwan, killing its captain, while eight other ships ran aground.