200,000 relocated in Shanghai as typhoon Haikui nears

August 7, 2012

China’s commercial hub of Shanghai was rushing to relocate people in order to avoid risks posed by the approaching severe typhoon Haikui, officials with the municipal flood control headquarters said Tuesday.

It was estimated that over 200,000 people threatened by typhoon Haikui would be relocated before 9 p.m. Tuesday, said Zhang Zhenyu, deputy director of the headquarters’ office.

Those living in temporary housing at construction sites, makeshift housing and seawall regions would be moved to school buildings, stadiums and other shelters, he said.

“Due to the uncertainty of the typhoon, we will relocate all people facing possible risks,” said Zhang. “It is with respect to each life.”

Haikui will be the third typhoon to wallop China’s eastern coast in a week, after storms Saola and Damrey hit the region over the weekend and forced over one million people to relocate.

According to the latest forecast, Haikui is expected to make landfall late Tuesday night or Wednesday morning near the Sanmenwan Gulf of Zhejiang province.

The Shanghai municipal government issued an emergency notice at 3 p.m. Tuesday to stop all group outdoor activities starting 9 p.m. Tuesday to ensure people’s safety and reduce possible losses.

All companies and institutions that are unrelated to people’s livelihoods and city operations should arrange holiday or days off, said the notice.

From 9 p.m. Tuesday to the orange alert against the typhoon is cleared, all classes and outdoor construction work must be stopped and all parks and tourism attractions should be closed, the notice added.

The city’s observatory also strengthened its alert against the typhoon to orange, the second-most severe alert in the country’s four-tier color-coded weather warning system, followed by yellow and blue.

Haikui could be the worst typhoon to directly affect Shanghai since 2005, when typhoon Matsa caused casualties in the city, said Zhang Jiayi, deputy commander-in-chief of the municipal flood control headquarters.

The city began arranging the relocation of people facing risks when the typhoon was 600 km away at sea on Monday afternoon, he said.

“Shanghai will put people’s lives as a priority by avoiding risks to its residents,” the official said.

The metropolis has also seen to disaster precautions such as clearing up sewage water inlets, setting up warning signs on overpasses and warning farmers living in simple sheds, Zhang Jiayi said.

The storm’s center was located 400 km southeast of Shanghai as of 7 p.m. Tuesday, and it was moving northwest at a speed of 10 km per hour, said the city’s observatory.

Haikui is expected to bring downpours and severe rainstorms to Shanghai form Tuesday night to Thursday. And the rainfalls are expected to linger in Shanghai and nearby Zhejiang province, said the observatory.

The state flood control and drought relief headquarters lifted the emergency response on Tuesday to the typhoon and flooding to Level II, the second-highest level in the country’s four-tier emergency response system.

Source: News Xinhuanet