More than a million and a half people in and around Shanghai last night fled the advance of one of the most powerful typhoons to hit the country in a decade. Typhoon Wipha was recording gusts of 180 miles an hour yesterday evening, a few hours before it was expected to hit the coast to the south of China's business capital. | |  | A satellite image showing typhoon Wipha off China and Taiwan. It was recording gusts of 180mph
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Throughout the day, residents on the coast and parts of the city itself fled the area as the government announced the closure of all primary and middle schools in Shanghai and the neighbouring city of Suzhou. The central meteorological administration declared a first-level emergency, while the deputy chief of Shanghai's flood control centre said the city's defences were facing their "most severe test in decades". Officials said 1.63 million people had been evacuated from Shanghai, Zhejiang and neighbouring Fujian province, while all fishing boats were recalled to port and an oil rig was cleared of all its staff. The typhoon was said to be nearly the strength of Saomai, which hit the Fujian coast last year and killed 400 people. It was described as the worst typhoon to hit the region in 50 years. September marks the peak of the South China Sea typhoon season. But this year, the Chinese government has warned of an increased number of typhoons, blaming changing weather patterns due to global warming. |