Typhoon pounds China with heavy rains; 1.1 million evacuated

(Xinhua/Agencies) Updated: 2015-07-12 07:48

Heavy rain and wind can't keep visitors away from the Bund, a popular tourist attraction in Shanghai, on July 11, 2015. Approaching Typhoon Chan-Hom is expected to make landfall on Sunday in East China's Zhejiang province. It's bringing rainstorms and gales to the province and neighboring regions, causing floods and disrupting traffic. [Photo/IC]

In neighboring Jiangsu Province, more than 78,900 people have been evacuated and 22,423 ships recalled to port. Many flights were canceled out of Nantong and Nanjing.

The typhoon brought heavy rain to Shanghai as well as the provinces of Anhui and Fujian, besides Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the weather service said.

In Shanghai, all flights out of Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao Airport were cancelled because of the typhoon, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Shanghai has also evacuated 163,000 people and called back 3,000 ships to harbor as the city experienced rainstorms and strong gales on Saturday, the city's flood control authority said.

It said the typhoon prostrated more than 3,000 trees in Shanghai and forced the city's subway to suspend service on some stretches. More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at the city's two airports.

Earlier, Chan-hom caused 20 injuries as it moved over islands in southern Japan, Kyodo news agency reported.

The storm dumped rain on the northern Philippines and China's Taiwan, where several flights were suspended. The stock market and public offices were closed Friday in Taipei.

Chan-hom is the second major storm to hit China this week, after Typhoon Linfa forced 56,000 people from their homes in the southern province of Guangdong province.

Typhoons are common at this time of year in the South China Sea, picking up strength from warm waters before dissipating over land.

Earlier this week, typhoon Linfa moved slowly across the north of the Southeast Asian archipelago and up to China's southern province of Guangdong.