Shanghai closes its two airports due to the passage of Typhoon Bebinca, the strongest in 75 years

Chinese television CCTV speaks frankly “the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Shanghai since 1949.” Bebinca arrived in the Chinese megalopolis, which triggered a red weather alert, on Monday, September 16. Winds of up to 151 km/h were recorded. All flights were canceled at the city’s two main airports.

The administration advised its 25 million residents not to leave their homes, while in Chongming County, an island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, 9,000 people were evacuated. Highways were closed from 1 a.m. (Paris time) and a speed limit of 40 km/h was set on the city’s streets.

According to Chinese media reports, Bebinca is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. As of 5 a.m. (Paris time), the typhoon was moving northwest at a speed of 15-20 km/h and its intensity was rapidly weakening. By Monday morning, Shanghai’s flood control headquarters had received dozens of reports of accidents caused by the typhoon, mainly falling trees and billboards, CCTV reported.

Bebinca earlier passed over the southern Japanese island of Amami on Saturday night, packing winds of 198 km/h, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. On Friday, still a tropical storm, Bebinca hit the Philippines and killed six people when trees fell. Experts say typhoons are forming closer to shore, intensifying faster and staying over land longer because of climate change.