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Yesterday, on September 16, two people lost their lives while normalcy was thrown out of gear in Shanghai when Typhoon Bebinca — strongest typhoon to hit China’s financial capital since 1949, made its landfall. En route Shanghai, the typhoon passed through Japan and the Philippines, where falling of trees claimed another six lives.
At present, the typhoon is officially downgraded to a tropical storm by the Chinese authorities.
It is reported that the two lives that were lost due to the typhoon were reported from the Zhoushi Town, about 80 kilometres northwest of Shanghai where a high-voltage power line broke off and fell on the victims.
Typhoon Bebinca, which disrupted flights and destroyed infrastructure was recorded to have attained speeds as high as 150 kilometres per hour.
The typhoon stranded passengers as more than 1,400 flights from the city's two airports and over 570 passenger trains were cancelled. The timing of the typhoon’s landfall coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, a three-day public holiday in China which led to additional disruptions as more Chinese ventured out to travel.
The typhoon’s mention dominated the social media portals in China as it is rare for storms of such magnitude to hit Shanghai. Mostly, they make landfalls further southwards along the South China Sea.
Another typhoon, named Yagi, had killed at least four people and injured 95 when it waded through China's southern Hainan island earlier this month, according to Chinese authorities.
A typhoon is just another name for a cyclonic storm. The cyclonic storms around China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and much of the Asia-Pacific region, are termed as typhoons.