SHANGHAI: Super typhoon Chan-hom barrelled towards Shanghai Saturday prompting the evacuation of more than 865,000 people in eastern China, after lashing Japan's Okinawa island chain and Taiwan.
The powerful storm could be the strongest typhoon to strike Zhejiang province, just south of Shanghai, since 1949, China's National Meterological Centre (NMC) said.
The storm left five people dead in the Philippines earlier in the week and injured more than 20 people in Japan Friday as strong winds uprooted trees and battered buildings, the Tokyo Broadcasting System broadcaster reported.
Four people were also injured by falling trees in Taiwan when the storm buffeted the island Friday.
Early Saturday morning the storm was 235 kilometres (146 miles) southwest of Zhenjiang province and continued to gain pace as it travelled towards land, the NMC said.
Super typhoon Chan-hom's expected path would see it pass just to the east of the financial metropolis Shanghai, after it makes landfall to the south of the city bringing with it winds of up to 210 kilometres (130 miles) per hour.
AFP
