Typhoon Bebinca brings Shanghai to standstill

Fishing boats take shelter at the Shenjiamen port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, as Typhoon Bebinca approached on Sept 14, 2024. CHEN YONGJIAN/FOR CHINA DAILY

With railway services halted, festival events canceled and entertainment parks closed, Shanghai is gearing up for Typhoon Bebinca, which is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds during the ongoing Mid-Autumn Festival holidays in the city.

The typhoon, the 13th to hit the country this year, was located about 435 kilometers to the southeast of Shanghai by 5 pm on Sunday. It will move westward and is expected to make landfall along the coastline from Zhoushan in Zhejiang province to Qidong in Jiangsu province on Monday morning, according to National Meteorological Center.

In response, the Shanghai Meteorological Administration has issued the level one emergency response which was the top among the four-tiered system on Sunday.

"I have stocked water and food that will last for about two days," said He Jingming, a woman who lives by the Dishui Lake in suburban Shanghai's Lingang area. "My friends consoled me and said there is hardly any chance of water or power outage, and I would be safe as long as I stay indoors with my windows closed."

Wu Rui, a meteorologist with Shanghai Meteorologic Service, said: "There is an urban legend in Shanghai that said the city has natural barriers to typhoons. But that's not true, as we saw three typhoons striking Shanghai one after another in 2018."

According to Wang Qian, an expert with the National Meteorological Center, there is still uncertainty about the intensity and time of the landfall of Bebinca, but it is most likely to land between Zhejiang and Shanghai, with landing intensity of typhoon level or strong typhoon level.

The Ministry of Water Resources on Saturday issued a Level-IV emergency response to flooding in Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, warning that the water levels of some medium and minor rivers in the regions are projected to exceed warning thresholds.

China Railway Shanghai Group announced that some railway services in the region will be halted in order to ensure the safety of passengers and railway transportation. The high-speed railways between Hangzhou in Zhejiang and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, between Hangzhou and Ningbo, the Jinshan Route and Pudong Route will remain closed from Sunday to Monday, while some railway services, such as between Hangzhou and Taizhou in Zhejiang and between Hangzhou and Nanchang in Jiangxi province, will be suspended on Monday.

Airports in Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai have all had hundreds of flights canceled due to the impact of Bebinca. On Sunday evening the two airports in Shanghai, Hongqiao and Pudong, announced the decision to cancel all flights after 8 pm on Sunday. The Shanghai airports pledged to "release the flight adjustments concerning the two airports to the public in a timely manner", and passengers were advised to check with their airline companies for the latest flight status.

The 35th Shanghai Tourism Festival, which attracted more than 176,000 viewers on the opening parade on Saturday, announced that float parades planned on Sunday and Monday were canceled, while a shopping and tourism carnival event were postponed to next week.

Due to the impact of Bebinca, Shanghai Disneyland has been temporarily closed down from Sunday to Tuesday.