China saves a million people as Typhoon Chan-hom makes landfall

Over a million people have been evacuated and hundreds of flights were cancelled as typhoon Chan-Hom made landfall on Saturday in eastern China, bringing severe winds and heavy rainfall to Zhejiang and neighbouring provinces.

Chan-Hom, the ninth typhoon this year, landed at 4:40 pm in Zhujiajian township, packing winds of up to 45 meters per second, the provincial meteorological station said. About 1.07 million people in the province had been evacuated and 29,641 ships recalled to port.

The water level of 37 large and medium-sized reservoirs had exceeded the danger level.

Over 600 flights were cancelled on Friday in the cities of Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and Taizhou.

Over 7,300 coaches and all passenger ships suspended service, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Several high-speed trains starting were also cancelled.

Zhejiang was battered by gales and torrential rain, forcing hundreds of flights to be cancelled and highways to be closed.

So far, no casualties have been reported.

A number of villages were flooded and power and road access has been cut off.

Power supply to more than 200,000 household at 139 villages in the coastal city of Ningbo have been cut off since Friday night.

As of Saturday morning, nine counties had recorded more than 100 mm of rain since Friday.

Lai'ao Village in Sanmen County reported a record 404 mm of rainfall, according to the provincial flood control and drought prevention headquarters.

In neighbouring Jiangsu Province, more than 46,000 people have been evacuated and 21,691 ships recalled to port.

Many flights were cancelled out of Nantong and Nanjing.