Pulasan made landfall near the Chinese megacity, days after it was hit by its strongest typhoon in decades, bringing flood and landslide risks.
Tropical Storm Pulasan made landfall near Shanghai on Thursday, halting trains, grounding ferries and bringing the risk of floods and landslides three days after the Chinese megacity was pounded by its strongest typhoon in 75 years.
Pulasan made landfall on Thursday evening in the city of Zhoushan, on an island south of Shanghai, according to China’s National Meteorological Center. It was packing maximum sustained winds of about 40 miles per hour, nearly 35 m.p.h. below hurricane strength, according to the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The slow-moving storm was also expected to bring up to two inches of rain per hour in some areas. China’s National Meteorological Observatory issued a severe weather alert on Thursday, and some local forecast offices near Shanghai warned of the potential for dangerous floods and landslides just days after Typhoon Bebinca swept through the area and forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate.
Earlier on Thursday, Pulasan grazed southern Japan, setting off landslide warnings in the island of Okinawa. After striking eastern China, the storm could boomerang back toward Japan after moving along the southern coast of South Korea, forecasters said. There was also a chance that the storm could dissipate in eastern China.
As Pulasan approached, a branch of the China Railway Shanghai Group said that it would suspend a commuter train line in Shanghai on Thursday night. All 72 passenger ferry routes in Zhoushan were also canceled, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.
The China Meteorological Administration said that Pulasan could bring up to seven inches of rain in a day in parts of northeastern Zhejiang province and southern Anhui province. By Wednesday, parts of Shanghai had already received three to nine inches of rain in total since Sunday, the city government said.
Typhoon Bebinca, the storm that hit Shanghai on Monday, triggered the evacuation of 414,000 people, the cancellation of flights at its two international airports, the closure of major tourist attractions and the shutdown of several train and bus routes.
Bebinca damaged four houses, felled more than 10,000 trees and flooded 800 acres of farmland in Shanghai, according to China Central Television, the national broadcaster. It also left at least two people dead in Kunshan, west of Shanghai, the broadcaster reported.
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news. More about John Yoon
