Typhoon Bebinca, the worst typhoon to hit Shanghai in almost 70 years, made landfall on Monday. The storm caused severe wind and torrential rain, canceling flights and closing roadways.
Coastal residents have been evacuated and a red alert has been issued, according to local authorities.
Typhoon Typhoon Landing near Pudong, East of Lingang New City, Early on Monday morning, the China Meteorological Administration reported.
Soon after Bebinca made landfall, state media CCTV declared that it was the greatest storm to batter Shanghai since Typhoon Gloria in 1949.
For the Mid-Autumn Festival public holiday, many businesses had already closed, and the 25 million citizens of the city had been told not to leave their homes.
Ferry services and certain train services have been suspended, and all aircraft at Shanghai’s two main airports are grounded.
At 1:00 am local time (1700 GMT), highways were stopped, and inside-city traffic is limited to 40 km/h (25 miles per hour).
During peak hours, live video feeds from Shanghai revealed its famous skyline partially covered by dense fog, with the city’s usually congested highways nearly bare of cars.
Authorities claimed that nine thousand people have left the island of Chongming District at the Yangtze River’s mouth.
Seen in footage from the northern Baoshan District, fierce gusts were tearing away a row of trees along the river.
CCTV was informed by Shanghai’s flood control headquarters that they had already received scores of reports regarding typhoon-related incidents, the most of which were fallen trees and billboards.
CCTV showed a reporter at the seaside in the nearby province of Zhejiang, where waves crashed against the rocky shoreline beneath gloomy skies.
The reporter remarked, “I can hardly speak if I step out into (the storm).”
“You can see that the surface of the sea is just wave after wave, each higher than the last.”
This month, another typhoon, Yagi, made landfall on China’s southern Hainan island, causing at least four fatalities and ninety-five injuries, according to national weather authorities.
Additionally, Bebinca traveled across central and southern Philippines, where fallen trees claimed the lives of six individuals.
Bebinca was predicted by CCTV to move northwest, bringing with it strong winds and torrential rain to the provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu.
China is the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases, which scientists believe are causing climate change and increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather.
