Flights grounded in Shanghai as China prepares for typhoon

SHANGHAI - Shanghai halted transportation links, recalled ships and shut tourism spots, including Shanghai Disney Resort, on Sept 15 as it braced itself for Typhoon Bebinca in what could be the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the Chinese financial hub since 1949.

The Category 1 typhoon, packing maximum sustained wind speeds near its centre of around 144kmh, was about 500km south-east of Shanghai as at 1pm.

It was expected to make landfall along China’s densely populated eastern seaboard between the night of Sept 15 and the morning of Sept 16, according to Beijing’s Emergency Management Ministry.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that all flights at Shanghai’s two main airports would be cancelled from 8pm on Sept 15 because of the storm.

“Affected by Typhoon Bebinca, the traffic capacity of Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports has decreased today,” CCTV said.

Beijing’s Emergency Management Ministry said in a statement on Sept 14 that the storm would cause heavy to torrential downpours, with “local heavy or extremely heavy rainstorms” between Sept 15 and 17.

Officials held a meeting on Sept 14 to “research and deploy flood and typhoon control work in key areas”, it said.

The strongest storm to make landfall in Shanghai in recent decades was Typhoon Gloria in 1949, which tore through the city with gusts of 144kmh. Shanghai was last threatened by a direct hit in 2022 by the powerful Typhoon Muifa, which instead landed 300km away in the city of Zhoushan, in Zhejiang province.

Shanghai is typically spared the strong typhoons that hit further south in China, including Yagi, a destructive Category 4 storm that roared past southern Hainan province last week. But Shanghai and neighbouring provinces are taking no chances with Category 1 Bebinca.

Bebinca’s arrival will coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival, a nationwide three-day holiday when many Chinese travel or engage in outdoor activities. The country’s railway operator is expecting passengers to take 74 million trips during the holiday, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sept 14.

The Emergency Management Ministry said officials must “pay close attention to the development of the typhoon”, adding that “many people will be travelling, mobility will be high and safety risks will be prominent”.

The Water Resources Ministry on Sept 14 launched a Level Four emergency response – the lowest in a four-tier emergency response system – for potential flooding in Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, according to Xinhua.

The weather office issued orange typhoon warnings – the second-highest in a four-tier system – for several districts in Shanghai and areas of nearby provinces on Sept 15.

It advised people to refrain from gathering in large numbers, that boats return to port and rickety structures be strengthened against high winds.

The Shanghai municipal authorities urged residents on Sept 15 to “strengthen efforts to guard against harmful effects of the typhoon on high-altitude work, transportation, infrastructure and agriculture”.

Resorts in Shanghai, including Shanghai Disney Resort, Jinjiang Amusement Park and Shanghai Wild Animal Park, have been temporarily closed, while most ferries have been halted to and from Chongming Island – China’s third-biggest island, known as “the gateway to the Yangtze River”.

In Zhejiang, ships have been recalled, while several parks in the provincial capital Hangzhou announced closures.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say are driving climate change and making extreme weather more frequent and intense.

Six killed by falling trees in the Philippines

In the Philippines, falling trees killed six people after Bebinca brought strong winds and floods, officials said on Sept 15.

The storm slammed into the central and southern Philippines on Sept 13, before leaving the country before dawn on Sept 14.

Four children on the way home from school in Malabang municipality, in the southern province of Lanao del Sur, were killed on Sept 13 when a huge tree fell on the motorised tricycle they were riding during the storm, municipal policewoman Christina Obina told AFP.

“The wind was so strong, causing the tree to be uprooted,” she said.

In Zamboanga Peninsula, at least 200km away from Lanao del Sur, a two-year-old girl and a woman were killed in two separate incidents due to trees falling on their houses, regional disaster official Angelito Casinillo told AFP.

Bebinca has displaced around 13,000 people and damaged roads and other infrastructure in the South-east Asian nation.

The national disaster council said the typhoon left the country with at least 11 injured and two missing.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Philippines or its surrounding waters each year, killing dozens of people. REUTERS, AFP