Several pulled from China landslide

Dozens of houses were swamped in the village of Sucun as heavy rains caused the landslide in Zhejiang province, which lies south of Shanghai, state media reported on Thursday. 

A mass of water and debris rolled down a lush mountain toward the small village on Wednesday afternoon, according to images posted on social media.

Other pictures showed survivors being carried out on the backs of some of the 400 rescuers in attendance, while others dug through rubble to locate other residents.

Fifteen people were pulled out alive, while at least 32 people are still unaccounted for there and in another village, Baofeng.

Floods and mudslides

Earlier on Wednesday, China shut schools and cancelled hundreds of flights as Typhoon Megi made landfall in the southern province of Fujian and neighboring Zhejiang, with winds of close to 120 km per hour (75 mph), the state news agency Xinhua said.

One person was killed in Fujian, and more than 120,000 people who work close to shore or at sea have been moved, Xinhua reported.

Television images showed people wading knee-deep through the streets of Fujian's capital Fuzhou and emergency workers using inflatable rafts to rescue others who had been stranded by the high waters. 

Mountainous Zhejiang, and neighboring provinces, are frequently hit by typhoons at this time of year and are also highly susceptible to landslides.

Megi had already killed four people, injured more than 523 and left a trail of destruction in Taiwan since it had roared in from the Pacific Ocean. It's the third typhoon to hit the region in recent weeks.

mm/jm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)