Beijing:
China shut down ports and railways on Saturday as it braced for Typhoon In-Fa as components of the nation struggled to recover from devastating floods earlier this week.
In-Fa is forecast to make landfall late Sunday in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang close to Shanghai, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Chinese authorities have issued a level III alert — the third-highest — for the storm, though more than one hundred trains travelling via the area have been cancelled, according to China Railway.
Shanghai authorities closed some public parks and museums and warned residents on Saturday to “stop large-scale outdoor gatherings” and to keep indoors.
Meanwhile, all container ship docks had been shut down from Yangshan Port south of Shanghai and 150 vessels which includes passenger ships and cargo vessels had been evacuated from the region.
In central China’s Henan province, exactly where historic floods this week have now killed at least 58 people today, authorities are steadily clearing and reopening roads blocked with cars and debris.
Millions have been impacted by the floods, with some trapped without having fresh meals or water for days and other individuals lifted to security in excavator buckets.
More than 495,000 people today have been evacuated, according to the Henan government, with the flooding causing billions of dollars in losses.
Henan emergency response official Li Changxun warned on Saturday that the province would require to undertake substantial-scale cleaning and disinfecting to “ensure the disaster is not followed by an epidemic.”
Photos published by state media and government social media accounts Saturday showed rescue workers continuing to shovel mud and take away uprooted trees across the province.
Torrential downpours dumped a year’s rain in just 3 days this week on the hardest-hit city of Zhengzhou, exactly where at least a dozen people today died inside a subway train throughout Tuesday’s rush hour right after floodwaters trapped passengers in their carriages.
State media warned that In-Fa could bring more torrential downpours to components of the province in the coming days.
China has suffered an annual flood season for millennia, but the record rainfall in Henan has prompted inquiries about how China’s cities could be improved ready for freak climate events, which authorities say are taking place with enhanced frequency and intensity due to climate modify.
Henan province is striated by rivers, dams and reservoirs, several constructed decades ago to handle the flow of floodwater and irrigate the agricultural area, but fast urban sprawl has strained current drainage systems.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)