Typhoon Chan-hom made landfall in eastern China early on Saturday evening, as the nation cancelled hundreds of flights and evacuated people in preparation for the storm.
Chan-hom landed in the Zhujiajian township of Zhoushan city, in Zhejiang province, at 4:40 pm local time, the National Meteorological Centre said in a posting on its Weibo account. The top speed at the centre of the typhoon was 45 metres per second, less than the 58 metres earlier projected by the weather agency.
After landing, the typhoon will move in a northeasterly direction and weaken gradually, the NMC said. The centre had issued the highest red-alert level on Friday morning for the super typhoon, saying that Chan-Hom could be the strongest typhoon to land in Zhejiang since 1949.
Chan-hom is so large that while it won't make direct strikes on Japan's southern islands and Taiwan, both places will feel the impact as it passes. Twenty-two people were reported injured on Okinawa.
Chan-hom landed in the Zhujiajian township of Zhoushan city, in Zhejiang province, at 4:40 pm local time, the National Meteorological Centre said in a posting on its Weibo account. The top speed at the centre of the typhoon was 45 metres per second, less than the 58 metres earlier projected by the weather agency.
After landing, the typhoon will move in a northeasterly direction and weaken gradually, the NMC said. The centre had issued the highest red-alert level on Friday morning for the super typhoon, saying that Chan-Hom could be the strongest typhoon to land in Zhejiang since 1949.
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The province had evacuated more than 1 million people, the official Xinhua News Agency posted on Weibo. More than 600 flights were cancelled on Saturday in the cities of Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and Taizhou, while more than 7,300 coaches and all passenger ships had suspended services, Xinhua reported. Before making landfall on mainland China, Typhoon Chan-hom was expected to hit Japan and Taiwan.
Chan-hom is so large that while it won't make direct strikes on Japan's southern islands and Taiwan, both places will feel the impact as it passes. Twenty-two people were reported injured on Okinawa.