Typhoon Chan-Hom causes flooding, power cuts and panic buying

Fishing boats anchor in a port in Daishan county, Zhejiang province, on Friday, to shelter from Typhoon Chan-Hom, which is predicted to make landfall on Saturday. [Photo by Shen Lei/China Daily]

The meteorological center said Chan-Hom's strength may ebb gradually after making landfall and moving north. It is expected to sweep across Zhejiang, Shanghai and southeast Jiangsu through Sunday afternoon, packing winds and heavy rain that will also affect neighboring Anhui and Fujian provinces. East Zhejiang may suffer severe rains, with precipitation estimated at an extreme 250 to 300 mm per hour.

"The typhoon seems very powerful. We have sealed all our windows and doors and have stocked up on food," said Liu Yimin, from the coastal village of Huagang. Meanwhile, all of the Wenzhou City government's 53,000 flood control staff will be on stand-by over the weekend.

Residents on alert

The Ministry of Civil Affairs required subdepartments in the affected areas to stand by round-the-clock and publish timely warnings. Residents were advised to purchase and store daily necessities for one to three days.

Shanghai took various precautions to prepare for the upcoming storm. All scheduled bullet trains on Friday and Saturday running between Shanghai and the coastal cities of Fuzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen and Guangzhou have been suspended, along with the high-speed trains to Wenzhou and Cangnan county in Zhejiang.

Metro Line 16, which meanders through the coastal suburb of Pudong New Area, will apply speed-limiting measures to its trains running above ground, or even on the ground if winds remain lower than 62 km/h. They will be taken out of service if the winds reach 89 km/h.