A firefighter stands near debris along a commercial street after Typhoon Bebinca in Shanghai, China on Monday.
AP/CHINATOPIX
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AP/CHINATOPIX
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai since at least 1949 flooded roads and snapped tree branches, knocked out power to some homes and injured at least one person as it swept through the financial hub on Monday.
More than 414,000 people have been evacuated ahead of the strong winds and pouring rain. Schools have been closed and people have been advised to stay indoors.
An elderly man was injured by a falling tree on Shanghai’s Chongming Island and was taken to hospital for treatment, state media reported.
Typhoon Bebinca made landfall around 7:30 a.m. in the sprawling Pudong commercial district with winds of up to 151 km/h (94 mph) near its center.
Torrential rain flooded streets in the district, according to images broadcast by state media. Elsewhere in Shanghai, uprooted trees and broken branches covered some roads and sidewalks. As the storm eased, emergency workers cleared away branches and other debris blown by the storm.
More than 60,000 emergency responders and firefighters were on hand to assist in Shanghai.
Authorities said the winds uprooted or damaged more than 10,000 trees and knocked out power to at least 380 households, damaging four homes.
At least 53 hectares (132 acres) of farmland were flooded.
The storm weakened as it moved inland, causing heavy rain in some areas of Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces.
Flights, ferries and train services were suspended in the major city and surrounding provinces, disrupting travel during the three-day Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Shanghai’s airports canceled more than 1,400 flights, while in Hangzhou, about 170 km (106 miles) southwest of Shanghai, authorities canceled more than 180 flights.
The weather bureau expects Shanghai and some surrounding provinces to see up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of rain from Monday to Wednesday.
Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, is rarely hit by strong typhoons, which often hit mainland southern China.
Typhoon Yagi made landfall on China’s Hainan Island earlier this month and caused devastation across Southeast Asia. In Myanmar, Yagi left at least 74 people dead and dozens missing. Four deaths were reported in Hainan, at least 10 in Thailand and 20 in the Philippines.
Vietnam reported more than 230 deaths in the storm and the floods and landslides that followed, with dozens more still missing.
