China: Typhoon Muifa hits densely populated coastal region

Beijing, Sep 15: Around 1.6 million people were forced to leave their homes in the Chinese megacity Shanghai and neighboring Zhejiang province as typhoon Muifa made landfall, bringing strong winds and torrential rains on Wednesday and into Thursday.

State TV channel CCTV said that Muifa was the strongest storm to hit Shanghai since record-keeping began in 1949.

By Thursday, no fatalities or major injuries were reported. More than 420,000 people were evacuated in Shanghai and another 1.2 million in Zhejiang were housed in temporary shelters.

There were reports of giant waves hitting Hangzhou bay, landslides in Ninghai county and flooding in areas along the Yangtze River delta.

Chinese weather forecasters warned that Muifa could still bring further flash flooding as it heads north.

Severe disruptions

Ahead of making landfall, the typhoon had already caused massive disruptions to air travel in and around Shanghai, with more than half of all flights from the financial and trade hub canceled.

Some flights began to resume on Thursday as the storm moved on, according to Flightradar24.

The storm also brought much shipping in the region to a standstill, including container vessels and fishing boats.

China's Central Meteorological Observatory said on Thursday that Muifa's windspeeds had weakened to around 90 kilometers (56 miles) per hour.

Muifa is the 12th typhoon to hit China this year, following typhoon Hinnamnor that lashed Shanghai last week, after causing havoc in South Korea.

Tropical storms are on the rise in part due to climate change. The strength of typhoon Muifa is believed to be at least partly down to the unusually high temperatures witnessed in China this summer.

Source: DW