The biggest typhoon in more than seven decades has hit China’s financial capital, bringing gale-force winds and heavy rain to the eastern seaboard and disrupting holidaymakers at the start of a days-long national festival.
Typhoon Bebinca — known as Beibijia in China — crossed the coast in the Yangtze River Delta region at around 7:30 a.m. local time on Monday, according to state media reports.
The storm is expected to dump rain across a wide region, from Ningbo in Zhejiang to Shanghai and Qidong in Jiangsu.
Shanghai, a mega city of 25 million people, initiated a top-level emergency response on Sunday, suspending railways, closing ports, bridges and highways.
All flights in and out of the city’s two airports were canceled in the evening, according to the airport operator.
Bebinca is the second storm to hit China in a matter of weeks, after Super Typhoon Yagi struck Hainan island in the nation’s south, killing people and causing widespread damage.
The system then moved into northern Vietnam and Thailand, flooding households and swamping infrastructure.
Bebinca led to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents in Shanghai and some other coastal cities, disrupting the plans of millions of residents at the start of the mid-autumn festival.
Strong gale force winds up to 42 meters per second howled through Shanghai on Monday morning, state media said.
The typhoon will likely push about a 1 to 2 meter storm surge into the Yangtze River, which will have its worst impact on the north side of the city, Adam Douty, a meteorologist at AccuWeather, said in an interview.
Zhoushan, home to some of China’s largest oil storage tanks and refineries, warned people to stay indoors as rain and strong winds began lashing the city on Sunday afternoon.