(Shanghai) Shanghai, China’s economic capital, has been hit by the typhoon Bebincathe strongest to make landfall there since 1949, with high winds and torrential rain causing flights to be cancelled and residents to be evacuated.
First passing through Japan, the typhoon Bebinca made landfall in Shanghai at around 7:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m.) [heure de l’Est] Sunday).
“The maximum wind speed near the center of the typhoon was 42 meters per second at the time of landfall,” making it “the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Shanghai since 1949,” according to Chinese television, specifying that it thus surpasses that of that year, the typhoon Gloria.
Highways were closed, all flights were cancelled at Shanghai’s two main airports and residents of the east coast, one of the country’s most populated areas, were evacuated, city authorities said.
With the typhoon’s arrival coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival, a public holiday in the country, the railway operator expected passengers to make 74 million trips during the holiday, the official Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.
The Ministry of Disaster Management had therefore called on officials to be vigilant, warning of the “high mobility” of the population.
The Ministry of Water Resources had launched level four (the lowest) emergency operations on Saturday for flood risks in Shanghai and the eastern provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, according to Xinhua.
The meteorological service issued orange typhoon warnings on Sunday – the second highest level in a four-tier system – for several districts in Shanghai and some areas in neighboring provinces.
He advised people to refrain from gathering in large numbers, bring boats back to port and strengthen structures against strong winds.
Shanghai authorities have urged residents to take the best possible precautions against the typhoon’s effects “at high altitudes” and in “transport, infrastructure and agriculture.”
Maritime connections carrying passengers have been suspended since Sunday, according to an official statement from the municipal port published on social networks.
Bebinca It previously passed over the southern Japanese island of Amami on Saturday night, packing winds of up to 198 km/h, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, warning of a “risk of landslides due to heavy rain.”
Friday, still in the form of a tropical storm, Bebinca had hit the Philippines and caused the death of six people, killed by falling trees.