Typhoon Bebejia Brings Stormy Twist to Shanghai’s Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations

September 16, 2024 at 10:03 AM

Last updated: 5 hours ago

The strong typhoon “Bebinca” made landfall in the coastal area of ​​Lingang New City in Pudong, Shanghai, causing all flights, high-speed railways and urban transportation in Shanghai to be suspended.China Meteorological Centerthis is the strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai since 1949.

Bebejia made landfall at around 07:30 local time on Monday (September 16) (23:30 GMT on the 15th). According to the local government, as of Monday morning, three houses were damaged, 2,328 trees were broken, 1,461 flights were canceled, and 577 railway passenger services were canceled.

At 13:30 on Monday, the Shanghai Municipal Government issued a statement saying that the center of the typhoon has gradually left the city and entered Jiangsu, but the impact of wind and rain in the Yangtze River Delta is still significant. As of 15:00, Shanghai’s two major airports have gradually restored their capacity.

The typhoon made landfall during China’s Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. More than a dozen Shanghai residents who spoke to the BBC said that although the wind was strong and the rain was heavy, it had no substantial impact on their lives.

Xu Fangzhou, who lives in Zhabei, Shanghai, said that he saw rain seeping into his home through the gaps in the locked windows in the morning. He also saw through the window glass that all the awnings installed on the nearby residential buildings had been blown down by the wind and some cars had been hit by fallen trees.

A few days ago, the loudspeakers in her residential area had been playing typhoon warnings in a loop, and the street office kept sending reminders to “stay at home” in the residents’ WeChat group chats. Shanghai TV broadcast typhoon warnings on weekends and continued to update typhoon trends. At the same time, food delivery platforms such as Ele.me, Meituan, and Hema Fresh all stopped their services from the afternoon of the 15th.

The official WeChat public accounts of many local governments in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have already issued messages calling on citizens not to go out or order takeout during the typhoon, so that deliverymen can also spend the typhoon safely.

Previously, the Shanghai Meteorological Observatory upgraded the typhoon’s yellow warning signal to an orange warning signal at 17:00 on the 15th. More than 400,000 people were relocated, all ferry routes on the Huangpu River were suspended, all highways were closed and controlled, and Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao Transportation Hub – including Hongqiao Railway Station and Hongqiao International Airport – all stopped operating.

“These made me realize that this was a real typhoon,” said Xu Fangzhou, who was born and raised in Shanghai. She recalled that when she was in school, her classmates were looking forward to the “typhoon holiday” in September.

Image copyrightChina News Service

image captionBefore and after the typhoon made landfall, some people went to the Bund in Shanghai to feel the power of the storm but were persuaded to leave by staff

The typhoon season in Shanghai is concentrated around September. Whenever the meteorological station issues a typhoon warning, schools will be closed for one or two days. Due to terrain and other reasons, in the past few years, typhoons that were originally expected to land in Shanghai often landed near Shanghai, and the urban area of ​​Shanghai often only experienced heavy rainfall. Xu Fangzhou said that this is also an important reason why Shanghai is called the “Magic City”, because it makes the urban area of ​​Shanghai seem to have a fortress, causing typhoons to bypass and land.

“Our family didn’t make any special preparations, we just asked relatives to adjust the time of their visits,” said Xu Fangzhou.

Liu Sicheng and Hu Zhongyue told the BBC that they thought the typhoon would be similar to previous years. At 22:00 on Sunday (15th), the couple was still discussing whether to go to the zoo to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival the next morning, but they did not expect it to rain so heavily this time.

The typhoon made landfall at Dishui Lake in Lingang, Pudong. Official China Central Television reporters reported on the scene that strong winds of level 14 (150 to 166 kilometers per hour) destroyed sheds at some local construction sites, tore open the outer walls, and overturned steel guardrails.

The couple who lived in Minhang were awakened by the howling wind and rain at 8:30. Hu Zhongyue went to check whether the doors and windows were locked, and saw that the wall of the residential building opposite had been scraped off and hit the car parked in the open air.

Image copyrightHu Zhongyue

image captionA wall of a residential building collapsed onto parked cars during the typhoon

After half an hour, the wind and rain subsided, and the community security guards went from house to house asking residents to go downstairs and move their cars to avoid more losses when the next wave of wind and rain came.

They had just moved into the newly rented house, and because they didn’t think this typhoon would be much different from previous ones, they only left some instant noodles at home.

“But it doesn’t matter. We have already informed the neighbors. If things don’t work, I will go to them to borrow some food. The relationship between the neighbors is very good,” said Hu Zhongyue. She originally planned to buy a house in a nearby community for her wedding, but “the typhoon helped screen out the nearby houses. It seems that the houses nearby are not very reliable.”

Mr. Peng also said that he had never seen such a powerful typhoon, nor had he ever experienced a typhoon that went straight through the center of Shanghai. Fortunately, the typhoon passed during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the elders and children in the family were at home, and the food reserves were sufficient, so he did not worry about the impact on his work or the safety of travel.

“I’ve lived in Shanghai for 21 years, and this is the first time I’ve encountered a typhoon making direct landfall. I saw the window opposite was blown down this morning, and the property management tied it up with ropes to prevent water from entering the house. There was no other impact,” said Mr. Peng.

The chaos lasted only until 2pm, when many residents went out for a walk after the rain stopped, to experience the city after the typhoon. Some residents told the BBC that they had gone out to walk their dogs in the typhoon.

Image source: provided by the interviewee

image captionShanghai is rarely hit directly by typhoons

At 1:30 p.m., Xu Fangzhou received a text message from Hema, China’s largest chain fresh food brand, stating that the supermarket had resumed operations and delivery services had been opened.

Chinese media previously quoted the Tropical Cyclone Data Center of the China Meteorological Administration as saying that since 1949, a total of 10 typhoons have made landfall in Shanghai, most of which were strong tropical storms when they landed, and the “Bebejia” that landed this time was the strongest level.

Previously, the last typhoon that had a huge impact on Shanghai was Typhoon Gloria, which landed between Jinshan, Shanghai and Pinghu, Zhejiang in 1949. At that time, 1,613 people died in Shanghai due to the disaster.