China evacuates over 865,000 people as typhoon nears

The Chinese government has evacuated nearly one million people as a major typhoon is set to make landfall in the eastern Zhejiang province.

Some 865,000 people were evacuated in Zhejiang as the super typhoon, dubbed Chan-hom, is currently at the East China Sea, packing winds of up to 187 kilometers per hour, according to China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC).

The potentially dangerous storm is 115 kilometers away from the country’s eastern commercial hub of Shanghai city.

The powerful storm could be the strongest typhoon to hit the region since 1949, the NMC stated on Saturday.

The storm was forecast to make landfall in Zhejiang later in the day, possibly in the afternoon local time. According to state forecasts, it will first strike near the port city of Ningbo before approaching Shanghai.

Authorities called nearly 30,000 fishing boats back to port after waves reached up to 10 meters (33 feet) high off the coast, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Local television showed heavy rain and wind lashing the coastal province.

Earlier in the week, the storm left five people dead in the Philippines and injured more than 20 people in Japan.

The strong winds uprooted trees and battered buildings in Japan, according to the Tokyo Broadcasting System Television.

The storm also hit the island of Taiwan and injured at least four people there.

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