Shanghai was hit by the strongest typhoon to hit the city since 1949

The strongest typhoon in more than seven decades hit China’s financial hub, causing widespread flight cancellations and disrupting tourists at the start of a days-long national festival.

Typhoon Bebinca – known as Beibijia in China – crossed the coast of the Yangtze River Delta region on Monday morning and is expected to dump heavy rains in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces as it tracks inland and weakens, according to state media reports.

The storm is the second to hit China in weeks, after super typhoon Yagi hit the nation’s southern island of Hainan, damaging wind farms and solar installations before flooding vast areas of northern Vietnam. Two more storms could also near the Chinese coast later in the week.

China braces for another typhoon after Yagi hits southern coast

Bebinca had maximum sustained winds of 65 knots (120 kilometers) per hour before landfall, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. That made it equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale – the lowest intensity.

The typhoon was the strongest to hit Shanghai since 1949, according to a report by China Central Television. The city reported a small number of power outages and some flooding of farmland, CCTV said in a separate report.

Shanghai – a mega-city of 25 million people – initiated a high-level emergency response on Sunday, suspending rail services, closing ports, bridges and highways. Flights from both of the city’s airports were canceled overnight but resumed at 3pm local time, according to a government statement. Some metro lines have resumed operation.

China has canceled more than 1,600 flights due to the typhoon, CCTV reported, citing the Civil Aviation Administration. The airport in Hangzhou, a city of about 13 million people and home to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., canceled more than a hundred flights, according to separate state media reports. The city is about 175 kilometers (109 mi) southwest of Shanghai.

The typhoon will likely push a 1- to 2-meter storm surge into the Yangtze River, which will have the worst impact on the northern side of Shanghai, AccuWeather Inc. meteorologist Adam Douty said in an interview.

Bebinca led to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in Shanghai and other coastal cities, and the travel plans of millions of people were disrupted at the start of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Strong winds of up to 42 meters per second roared through Shanghai on Monday morning, state media said.

High-speed rail services were suspended in the Yangtze Delta. Zhoushan, home to some of China’s largest oil reservoirs and refineries, warned people to stay indoors as rain and strong winds began to batter the city on Sunday.

Two storms have formed that are forecast to track towards China by the end of this week – one is currently near the Philippines and the other near Guam.

Gener is expected to make landfall in the Philippines in the next 24 hours before reforming and tracking towards southern China, crossing the coast on Friday, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Pulasan is expected to move to eastern China and intensify into a severe tropical storm on Wednesday, Pagasa said.

Photo: Pedestrians struggle with umbrellas during Typhoon Bebinca in Shanghai on September 16, 2024. Photo credit: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

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