Typhoon Champi batters eastern China as tens of thousands evacuated and flights grounded
Typhoon Champi battered China's eastern coast on Saturday, grounding more than 100 flights and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes, while weakening as it moved towards Japan.
Typhoon Champi battered China’s eastern coast on Saturday, grounding more than 100 flights and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes, while weakening as it moved towards Japan.
China Eastern Airlines cancelled 39 domestic flights to and from Shanghai’s two main airports, while the cities of Ningbo and Wenzhou in Zhejiang cancelled 37 and 44 flights respectively on Saturday, the South China Morning Post reported. Flights from airports in Shanghai, Fujian and Zhejiang were grounded.
Shanghai authorities evacuated about 62,400 people ahead of the storm’s arrival on Friday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Railway authorities suspended some high-speed rail services passing through Zhejiang on Saturday and imposed temporary speed restrictions on other routes in the province on Friday and Saturday.
China’s National Meteorological Centre kept a blue typhoon warning — the lowest level in its four-tier system — in place on Saturday morning for a fifth straight day, and said the storm was expected to turn northeast along the waters off Zhejiang towards southwestern Japan, although it could remain close to mainland China’s east coast on Sunday. The centre put maximum wind speeds near the storm’s centre at 126 km/h on Saturday, down from 162 km/h on Friday.
Champi brushed past Taiwan’s northeastern coast in the early hours of Saturday without making landfall, the Post reported. Taiwan’s disaster response agency said the storm had killed one person and injured 527.
Sources
More on this topic: all World stories