Typhoon Hato death toll rises to 17
Thousand of Chinese troops were deployed to Macau on Friday to help clean up debris in the aftermath of the deadly typhoon.
A resident holds her nose due to the smell of rotting garbage as a Chinese soldiers help clear debris in Macau on August 25, 2017.
Some 1,000 Chinese PLA troops left their Macau barracks to assist in the recovery in the southern Chinese region.
Dressed in fatigues and caps, some used shovels to shift mounds of stinking rubbish and debris cluttering public spaces.
Typhoon Hato, a number 10 force typhoon, pummelled the world's biggest gambling hub on Wednesday, causing extensive damage, a near city-wide blackout, water supply disruptions and serious flooding.
Macau's leader Fernando Chui had requested the Chinese army's involvement in "disaster relief."
Under Macau law, the assistance of Chinese troops can be sought for such humanitarian purposes.
The death toll from Hato rises to nine, with scores missing.
A further eight people are known to have died in southwestern region Guangdong.
Chinese Peoples Liberation Army soldiers left their barracks to help cleaning two days after the typhoon hit the territory.
Another storm warning
Typhoon Hato roared into southern China on Wednesday with winds of up to 160 kilometres per hour.
It weakened into a tropical storm Thursday as it moved farther west inland.
Chinese media said almost 27,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters, and there was extensive damage to farmland due to the heavy rain and high tides.
Almost 2 million households lost power temporarily, while fishing boats were called back to port and train services and flights suspended, Chinese media reported.
Hong Kong's weather observatory said there were indications another storm, now brewing close to the Philippines, could hit southern China early next week.
"[Tropical storm] Pakhar will move into the northern part of the South China Sea, and intensify gradually in the next couple of days," the observatory said on its website.
TD 16W has formed just east of Luzon #Philippines, forecast doesn't look good for #Hato battered area of S China (Macau and HK.) pic.twitter.com/fwlCrjv8D6
— James Reynolds (@EarthUncutTV) August 24, 2017
Flooding and injuries were also reported in Hong Kong, which lies across the water 64 kilometres from Macau, but there were no reports of deaths.
Hato's fierce gales blew out windows on skyscrapers in the Asian financial capital, raining shattered glass onto the eerily quiet streets below.
Hong Kong's weather authorities had raised the hurricane signal to the highest level for the first time in five years.
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