Tyhoon Bebinca: Shanghai in China was brought to a standstill as typhoon Bebinca made a landfall in the city on Monday. The Category 1 storm is the most powerful tropical cyclone to directly hit the city since 1949. More than 10,000 trees fell across Shanghai and over 400,000 people were evacuated from at-risk homes in Bebinca's path.
Known as Beibijia in China, the storm crossed the coast in the Yangtze River Delta region at around 7:30 a.m. local time on Monday and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces are expected to receive heavy rainfall.
Shanghai's Emergency Response
As many as 1,400 flights from two airports in Shanghai and over 570 passenger trains have been cancelled since Sunday evening, disrupting the travel plans of many people during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. Highways were closed at 1:00 am local time and a 40-kilometre (25-mile) per-hour speed limit was in place on roads in the city. Shanghai's normally jammed roads were almost empty of traffic.
This is the second storm to hit China recently after Super Typhoon Yagi struck Hainan island in the nation's south, killing people and causing widespread damage. The cyclone then moved into northern Vietnam and Thailand. Typhoon Bebinca had maximum sustained winds of 65 knots (120 kilometers) per hour before making landfall.
Bebinca has also passed through Japan and the central and southern Philippines where six people were killed after trees fell.