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Shanghai Region Braces for Typhoon In-fa after Flooding in Central China

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A man with luggage walks in the rain on The Bund as Typhoon In-fa approaches Shanghai, China, July 25, 2021. (cnsphoto)
A man with luggage walks in the rain on The Bund as Typhoon In-fa approaches Shanghai, China, July 25, 2021. (cnsphoto)

China's commercial hub Shanghai and neighboring coastal regions canceled all flights, slowed or suspended subway trains and shuttered businesses as Typhoon In-fa made landfall on Sunday, bringing flooding and felling around 1,000 trees.

The typhoon landed in the Putuo district of the city of Zhoushan, a major port in the east coast province of Zhejiang, at 12:30 p.m. (0430 GMT) on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing the China Meteorological Administration.

The storm hit as central China was still reeling from record flooding that killed at least 63, cut off power and forced the relocation of more than 1 million people.

"We will make every effort to ensure the safety of people's lives and property, and do everything to minimize disaster losses, and strive to achieve the goal of no deaths and few injuries and economic losses," said Yuan Jiajun, the Zhejiang province Communist Party secretary, during an inspection of preparations on Saturday, official media reported.

After flooding 6 kilometers (4 miles) of roads in Zhoushan with seawater and felling around 1,000 trees in Shanghai on Sunday afternoon, the typhoon was due to make a second landfall on the coast between Zhejiang's Jiaxing city and Jiangsu province's Qidong city on Sunday night.

The Meteorological Administration earlier said the typhoon was moving at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour (9 miles per hour).

In-fa's wind speeds were up to 38 meters per second, the Meteorological Administration said. That is equal to about 137 kilometers per hour (85 miles per hour), according to Reuters calculations.

The Zhejiang emergency management department upgraded its typhoon response to the highest level on Saturday, closing schools and markets and suspending road traffic when necessary.

Both Shanghai, home to about 26 million people, and Hangzhou to the south canceled inbound and outbound flights from Saturday, and many train services in the region were also halted.

The Shanghai government said it would slow its subway trains and suspended some lines from noon, and Hangzhou authorities also canceled all underground trains.

Flooding in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou last week killed 12 people who were trapped in the subway system.

Shanghai Disneyland would close on Sunday and Monday because of the weather, the resort announced, while the city's Yangshan Port has evacuated hundreds of vessels, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The typhoon was set to linger in eastern China after its second landfall and bring strong rainstorms to Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, and Shanghai, said Xinhua.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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