Shanghai was brought to a standstill on Monday by what authorities say was the strongest typhoon to directly hit the Chinese financial hub in more than seven decades, with flights, trains and highways suspended during a national holiday.

More than a hundred thousand people were evacuated from Shanghai as Typhoon Pulasan brought heavy rains that broke local records in parts of the Chinese megacity.

Officials in China moved some 414,000 people out of the way in Shanghai before the strongest storm in decades flooded roads and cancelled flights.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shanghai’s airports were canceling hundreds of flights Sunday as they brace for impact from Typhoon Bebinca, which is due to make landfall in the early hours of Monday morning, the authorities said.

Shanghai, China’s financial hub, was hit by the strongest tropical storm in 75 years Monday. The city had closed its seaports and canceled more than 600 flights in preparation for Typhoon Bebinca, which made landfall early Sept. 16 having ripped through the Philippines over the weekend.

The strongest storm to make landfall in Shanghai in recent decades was Typhoon Gloria in 1949, which tore through the city with gusts of 144 kph. Shanghai was last threatened by a direct hit in 2022 by the powerful Typhoon Muifa, which instead landed 300 km away in the city of Zhoushan, in Zhejiang province.

They were informed of the impending storm via channels such as government apps and chat groups. Read more at straitstimes.com.