Shanghai curtails transport as Typhoon Chanthu closes in
Flights and train service are being canceled in Shanghai, China's largest city, as Typhoon Chanthu approached the mainland on Monday after bringing heavy rain and winds to Taiwan. Local media reported all flights would be suspended from Shanghai's two airports as of 3 pm on Monday. The subway was preparing to shut down, while classes and many offices and shops were closed.
Shanghai Meteorological Bureau has upgraded the typhoon alert to yellow
Shanghai's flood prevention office had issued orders for parks, outdoor tourist attractions, and playgrounds to be closed for the next two days. Anyone who stands to be affected by the typhoon was to be evacuated by 12 pm. Typhoon alert had been upgraded to yellow by the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. This will be the year's 14th Typhoon on record.
Storm was expected to bring heavy rain to coastal regions
The storm was downgraded from a super typhoon to a strong typhoon on Sunday evening and is expected to lose wind intensity as it reaches Shanghai. Strong winds and heavy rain for coastal regions have been predicted, Aljazeera reported.
Chanthu is forecast to head north across eastern China
Chanthu drenched Taiwan with up to five inches of rain on Sunday as the storm's center passed the island's east coast with winds of 162 kph (101 mph) and gusts up to 198 kph, before heading across the Taiwan Strait toward Shanghai. After dumping rain on Shanghai, Chanthu is forecast to head north across eastern China and steer toward South Korea and Japan.
Typhoons are called hurricanes in some Pacific and Atlantic areas
The storm grazed the island of Luzon in the Philippines last week, but no flooding or damage was reported. Typhoons are called hurricanes in the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific, but are the same weather phenomenon.
Torrential rains, flooding in July killed 292 people in Zhengzhou
A few weeks back, Typhoon In-fa made landfall south of Shanghai in late July, leading to flight cancellations and prompting evacuations for about 330,000 residents of Fengxian District. Torrential rains and flooding in July caused the death of at least 292 people in Zhengzhou, a major city in the central province of Henan, including some trapped in the city's subway tunnels.