The typhoon has made landfall near the port of Ningbo – home to nearly six million people.
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In Shanghai, the commercial capital, Pudong worldwide Airport cancelled 500 flights while Hongqiao Airport cancelled 250 because of the typhoon, the official People’s Daily newspaper said.
No deaths or injuries have been reported by Saturday evening. A number of cities have even canceled bus and boat ferry rides as a satefy precaution.
Typhoon winds blew down trees and street signs across Zhejiang and knocked down an unoccupied building in the city of Cixi, provincial television reported.
Flooding from the typhoon has had a considerable economic impact on Zhejiang, according to provincial flood control and drought prevention headquarters via Xinhua.
Authorities say the powerful storm could turn out to be the strongest typhoon to hit Zhejiang province since 1949.
Some 20 people were reportedly injured when Chan-hom passed over islands in southern Japan.
It is expected to make a landfall between Zhejiang province’s Rui’an and Zhoushan, with winds of up to 209 kilometers per hour.
Chan-hom’s landfall will also be poorly timed-with its closest approach to Shanghai coming right around the time of high tide, potentially producing an all-time record-level storm surge in the city.
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 super typhoon.
Cham-hom is the second major storm to hit China this week, after Typhoon Linfa forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate in Guangdong province in the country’s south.
Chan-hom hit Zhoushan – part of eastern China’s densley populated coastal Zhejiang province – with winds of around 100 miles per hour, the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane, state-run media outlet Xinhua reported.
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The strong typhoon is expected to pass through Shanghai and the city has canceled hundreds of scheduled flights due to safety concerns.
