Chinese cities have been evacuated of more than 1m people after typhoon Chan-hom brought winds of up to 100mph to the coast.
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People are splashed by sea waves strengthened by Typhoon Chan-hom at the seacoast of Qingdao in east China’s Shandong province Sunday, July 12, 2015.
Miraculously, no deaths or injuries have been reported so far.
Beijing/Tokyo (dpa) – A powerful typhoon accompanied by heavy downpours and strong winds was approaching the eastern coast of China Friday after passing through southern Japan.
APPHOTO XMAS804: Spectators watch strong waves ahead of the landfall of Typhoon Chan-Hom along the seashore in Wenling in eastern China’s Zhejiang province Friday July 10, 2015.
China’s national weather service said earlier that the typhoon might be the strongest to strike the country since the communist government took power in 1949.
People in coastal fishing farms in Fujian province to the south of Zhejiang were also asked to evacuate Friday morning when the NMC first issued a red alert, the highest level, for the typhoon.
Typhoon Chan-hom made landfall in Shanghai after making its way through Okinawa island.
Typhoon Chan-hom slammed ashore with winds of up to 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour. Authorities reported no immediate casualties.
Authorities in Zhejiang said the province may face 1.9 billion yuan ($410 million) in economic losses, with agriculture the worst affected, Xinhua said.
As part of Zhejiang’s preparations for Typhoon Chan-Hom, the local government has called its ships back to port and evacuated over 865,000 residents.
Shanghai, the largest city, was also expected to be affected.
Up to 650,000 people were evacauted from the coast of Zhejiang before the storm made a landfall.
They say there could be more flight cancellations later in the day so passengers need to check if their flights are available before heading to airports.
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Chan-hom was expected to hit eastern China’s coastline early Saturday and is forecast to change course and head northeast toward Shanghai and the Korean peninsula.
