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Mangkhut, which had been the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, made landfall on the Philippines’ largest island, Luzon, in the early hours of Saturday, reports the New York Times.
Maximum sustained wind speeds slowed to about 120 miles per hour (mph), but were still gusting to 200mph.
The Washington Post says the death toll has risen to at least 69 with dozens missing.
A man wades through flooded streets during a No. 10 Hurricane Signal raised for Typhoon Mangkhut in Hong Kong on Sunday. /NPR
Nearly 100 gold miners are feared dead after a landslide in the province of Bengue, reports the Philippine Star.
In China, state media reported that at least four people had died in the coastal province Guangdong.
The meteorological administration said Mangkhut was one of the 10 biggest storms to hit southeast China since records began in 1949, reports Reuters.
The storm also left a swath of damaged buildings and scores of injuries in Hong Kong and Macau, says another Reuters piece.
Water levels surged 3.5 meters in some places and waves swamped roads, washing into some residential blocks and a mall in the eastern Heng Fa Chuen district.
Meanwhile, Florence made landfall in North Carolina on Friday as a tropical storm, bringing over 30 inches of rain in some areas, says Reuters.
That is a new record, says Vox. At least 16 people have died in North and South Carolina, while more than 900 people were rescued from rising floodwaters and 15,000 remained in shelters in the state.
Resident Joseph Eudi looks at flood debris and storm damage. /AP
The Hill reports that nearly one million people lost power and also that President Trump approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina on Saturday. Florence has now weakened to a tropical depression, says Reuters.
Speaking to 17 meteorologists and scientists who study climate change or hurricanes, the Associated Press found that “a few experts remain cautious about attributing global warming to a single event, but most of the scientists clearly see the hand of humans in Florence”.
Bloomberg says “Yes, you can blame bad storms on climate change“, while the South China Morning Post looks at how climate change could cause more “mega-storms” like Mangkhut and Florence.
The two destructive tropical storms raise questions about the influence of human-caused global warming, resilience to disaster and environmental justice, reports Climate Homes News.
Yeb Saño, director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said Typhoon Mangkhut brought further evidence of the need to hold the fossil fuel industry to account for climate damages.
“Every superstorm will have the fingerprints of climate change. As such, every life lost, every acre of crops destroyed, every house blown away, every bit of culture forever gone, is partly because of the injustice of climate change,” he said.
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