Chinese authorities are bracing for heavy rains on Sunday as powerful Typhoon Bebinca approaches the country’s densely populated east coast and the economic capital Shanghai, where all flights will be cancelled.
It is expected to make landfall, including in Shanghai, between Sunday evening and Monday morning, according to the Ministry of Disaster Management.
The latter warned in a statement on Saturday that the typhoon could cause very heavy, even “torrential” rains between Sunday and Tuesday.
Officials met Saturday to “identify and deploy” protective measures in “key regions,” the statement said.
With the typhoon’s arrival coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival, a public holiday in the country, the railway operator expects passengers to make 74 million trips during the holiday, the official Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.
The Ministry of Disaster Management has therefore called on officials to be vigilant, given that “mobility will be high and the risks will be significant.”
The Ministry of Water Resources on Saturday launched level four (the lowest) emergency operations for flood risks in Shanghai and the eastern provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The meteorological service issued orange typhoon warnings on Sunday – the second highest level in a four-tier system – for several districts in Shanghai and some areas in neighboring provinces.
He advised people to refrain from gathering in large numbers, bring boats back to port and strengthen structures against strong winds.
Shanghai authorities urged residents on Sunday to take the best possible precautions against the typhoon’s effects “at high altitudes” and in “transport, infrastructure and agriculture.”
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All flights will be cancelled at Shanghai’s two main airports on Sunday, Chinese state television CCTV reported.
Traffic, affected by the approach of Typhoon Bebinca, has already decreased at the two airports concerned and “from 8:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT), all flights are cancelled,” CCTV reported.
All flights to and from Shanghai were cancelled as of 8pm local time on Sunday, state media CCTV reported.
Maritime connections carrying passengers are also to be suspended from Sunday, according to an official statement from the municipal port published on social networks.
– A chain of destruction –
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, which fuel global warming.
In early September, another typhoon, Yagi, hit the southern Chinese island of Hainan (south), killing at least four people and injuring 95, according to the authorities.
Experts say typhoons are forming closer to shore, intensifying faster and staying over land longer because of climate change.
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, which fuel global warming.
Bebinca also passed over the Japanese island of Amami (south) during the night from Saturday to Sunday, blowing winds measured at 198 km/h, declared the Japanese Meteorological Agency, which reported a “risk of landslides due to heavy rains”.
Six people in the Philippines were killed by falling trees caused by Tropical Storm Bebinca, which battered central and southern parts of the country on Friday with strong winds and flooding, officials said Sunday.
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