Shanghai cleans up after strongest storm
Published: 04:09 PM,Sep 16,2024 | EDITED : 08:09 PM,Sep 16,2024
Workers remove a fallen tree brought down during the passage of Typhoon Bebinca in Shanghai. — AFP
SHANGHAI: Emergency workers cleared fallen trees and other debris from Shanghai's streets after the strongest storm to hit the Chinese megacity since 1949 disrupted transport and left tens of thousands of people without power. Typhoon Bebinca landed in Shanghai's eastern coastal area early on Monday morning with wind speeds of around 150 kilometres per hour, state media said.
The municipal news service said the typhoon had caused 'significant damage across the city', felling more than 1,800 trees and leaving 30,000 households without electricity.
Many businesses were already closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival public holiday and the city's 25 million residents were advised to avoid leaving their homes.
Only one injury had been reported so far, the municipal news service said.
Workers in orange jumpsuits cleared a big pile of corrugated iron and other metal that appeared to have fallen from a nearby building onto a major road in the city centre.
Authorities said 414,000 people across Shanghai had been evacuated to safer locations and tens of thousands of emergency personnel were on hand to be deployed. Uprooted trees blocked off several roads in the city centre and the municipal news service said cars had been smashed by flying debris.
Many streets in the city's former French Concession turned a vivid green, carpeted with the felled boughs and leaves of the quarter's famous plane trees. Bicycles and rubbish bags littered the road as clean-up crews and some delivery drivers persevered against the driving rain.
The typhoon brought the normally heaving city to a standstill as it made landfall. Live video feeds during the morning rush hour showed Shanghai's usually jammed roads almost empty of traffic and its famed skyline obscured by thick fog.
All flights from Shanghai's airports were grounded earlier but started up again slowly as the storm moved on through the afternoon.
Highways were opened after being closed at 1 am local time and some ferries, metro services and trains resumed service.
State broadcaster CCTV said Bebinca was expected to move northwest, causing heavy rain and high winds in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. Some residents still braved the weather even at the storm's peak to go about their errands. — AFP
The municipal news service said the typhoon had caused 'significant damage across the city', felling more than 1,800 trees and leaving 30,000 households without electricity.
Many businesses were already closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival public holiday and the city's 25 million residents were advised to avoid leaving their homes.
Only one injury had been reported so far, the municipal news service said.
Workers in orange jumpsuits cleared a big pile of corrugated iron and other metal that appeared to have fallen from a nearby building onto a major road in the city centre.
Authorities said 414,000 people across Shanghai had been evacuated to safer locations and tens of thousands of emergency personnel were on hand to be deployed. Uprooted trees blocked off several roads in the city centre and the municipal news service said cars had been smashed by flying debris.
Many streets in the city's former French Concession turned a vivid green, carpeted with the felled boughs and leaves of the quarter's famous plane trees. Bicycles and rubbish bags littered the road as clean-up crews and some delivery drivers persevered against the driving rain.
The typhoon brought the normally heaving city to a standstill as it made landfall. Live video feeds during the morning rush hour showed Shanghai's usually jammed roads almost empty of traffic and its famed skyline obscured by thick fog.
All flights from Shanghai's airports were grounded earlier but started up again slowly as the storm moved on through the afternoon.
Highways were opened after being closed at 1 am local time and some ferries, metro services and trains resumed service.
State broadcaster CCTV said Bebinca was expected to move northwest, causing heavy rain and high winds in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. Some residents still braved the weather even at the storm's peak to go about their errands. — AFP