Beijing [China], September 17: Typhoon Bebinca slammed into Shanghai on Monday, causing severe disruptions across the city with heavy rain and strong winds.
Long-distance train and ferry services came to a standstill, all flights at international airports were cancelled and motorway access has been closed, Chinese state television reported. The tropical storm hit the metropolitan area, home to almost 25 million people, on Monday morning.
As a precaution, more than 400,000 people in the Shanghai Metropolitan area were relocated by Sunday evening, according to local officials.
A further 9,000 people were evacuated from the Chongming District, an island at the mouth of the Yangtze River that is also part of Shanghai. Initially, there were no reports of deaths or injuries, nor of major damage, but state television published photos of avenues with fallen trees.
Bebinca was the strongest of the eleven typhoons to have hit the financial metropolis in the past 75 years, according to the official news agency Xinhua. The central weather service issued the highest level of warning and meteorologists estimate that wind speeds reached up to 150 kilometres per hour. Other areas affected include the neighbouring coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu in eastern China, as well as Anhui further inland.
Videos posted online showed large trees toppled and people dragging their bicycles and motorcycles through flooded streets. A clip shared by Shanghai Daily showed a bus braking abruptly along Huaihai Road in a major shopping district as billboards blown by fierce winds collapsed onto the ground.
Authorities had issued warnings in advance and thousands of people in the affected areas were taken to emergency shelters as a precaution.
China was hit by typhoon Yagi a little more than a week ago, causing severe damage and several fatalities in the south of the country. Typhoon Yagi then continued its path towards South-East Asia, hitting Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand, where it led to hundreds of deaths due to flooding and accidents.
Source: Qatar Tribune
