Death toll rises to 33 in China floods as Asia braces for next typhoon

Natural disasters caused by heavy rain led to 147 people being killed or reported missing in the past month

A damaged bridge after the rains and floods caused by the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri in Zhuozhou, China. Reuters

The death toll in Beijing’s worst flooding on record rose to 33 on Wednesday with 18 people still missing, as parts of eastern Asia braces for another typhoon.

The 33 people died in heavy rains that lashed the capital between July 29 and August 2, officials said, in the worst flooding since records began 140 years ago.

Seven people were killed in Sichuan province, state media said on Wednesday, with four others rescued from floodwaters.

Millions of people have been affected by unusually heavy rains across northern China this month.

There were 147 people killed or reported missing nationwide due to natural disasters in July, Beijing stated last week.

Almost 60,000 homes collapsed in the city's mountainous outskirts, Beijing authorities said, and extensive damage could take up to three years to repair.

Tourist sites in the capital were shut and thousands of people evacuated from their homes ahead of Typhoon Doksuri last month, which killed dozens in the Philippines and caused damage estimated at billions of dollars.

In Japan, Toyota and Nissan plants have stopped operations in anticipation of Typhoon Khanun, which South Korea has warned is "extremely powerful".

Areas of East Asia have been hard hit by sweltering heat this summer, followed by a series of typhoons and flooding that have wreaked havoc in the Philippines, Taiwan, China and Korea.

Typhoon Khanun is expected to sweep across South Korea, into Seoul and across North Korea, the national Meteorological Administration said on Wednesday.

It would be the first time this has happened since records began in 1951.