Tens of millions of residents in Shanghai and along China’s east coast took shelter at home on Monday as Typhoon Bebinca struck the region, the strongest since 1949, prompting flight cancellations and evacuations. With winds of up to 151 kilometers per hour, it is “The strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai since 1949”According to Chinese television CCTV, all flights have been cancelled at Shanghai’s two main airports.
Earlier, six people were killed in the Philippines by falling trees triggered by Bebinca, which hit central and southern parts of the country with strong winds and flooding on Friday, it was reported on Sunday.
Four children returning from school in Malabang, in the southern province of Lanao del Sur, were killed on Friday when a huge tree fell on the motorized tricycle they were riding during the storm, a municipal police officer told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “The wind was so strong that it tore the tree away.”he clarified.
On the Zamboanga peninsula, 200 kilometers from this province, a 2-year-old girl and a woman died in two separate incidents also when trees fell on their houses, said the regional head of Disasters, Angelito Casinillo.
The storm displaced 13,000 people and damaged roads and other infrastructure in the Southeast Asian country. According to the National Disaster Management Council, the typhoon also left at least 11 people injured and two missing.
Flights to Shanghai cancelled
In China, the ministry responsible for disaster management warned in a press release on Saturday that the typhoon could cause very heavy rains, even “torrential” between Sunday and Tuesday. “The maximum wind speed near the center of the typhoon was 42 meters per second at landfall.” Monday, according to Chinese television.
Roads were closed, flights cancelled and coastal residents evacuated, authorities in the city, China’s economic capital, said.
The weather service on Sunday issued orange typhoon warnings – the second-highest level of a four-tier system – for several districts in Shanghai and parts of neighbouring provinces.
Around 20 strong storms and typhoons hit the Philippines or surrounding waters every year, killing dozens of people each time.
