Shanghai was hit by Typhoon Bebinca on September 16th. Hundreds of thousands of residents were evacuated in what state media called the strongest storm to rip through the financial hub in 75 years. Fierce winds uprooted trees and toppled billboards.

Notably, Pengzhen Water Station in Nicheng town, Pudong, recorded 308 millimeters of rainfall in six hours, while the Yangjiazhai Meteorological Observatory Station in Situan tallied 327.7 mm of rainfall during the same period, marking a historical deluge not witnessed since 1978, the Shanghai Meteorological Service said.

The city canceled all flights at its two airports and closed major attractions, amid a three-day national holiday.

The strongest storm to make landfall in Shanghai in recent decades was Typhoon Gloria in 1949, which tore through the city with gusts of 144 kph. Shanghai was last threatened by a direct hit in 2022 by the powerful Typhoon Muifa, which instead landed 300 km away in the city of Zhoushan, in Zhejiang province.

The strongest typhoon in more than seven decades has struck China’s financial hub, leading to widespread flight cancellations and disrupting holidaymakers at the start of a days-long national festival.

More than a hundred thousand people were evacuated from Shanghai as Typhoon Pulasan brought heavy rains that broke local records in parts of the Chinese megacity.