Tens of millions of residents of Shanghai and China’s east coast remained at home today as the region was battered by Typhoon Bebinka, the strongest recorded there since 1949.

After passing through the Philippines and Japan, Bebinka arrived in Shanghai this morning at around 07:30 (local time, 02:30 Greece time), state media reported.

With winds reaching up to 151 kilometers per hour “this is the strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai since 1949” and Typhoon Gloria.

The city’s authorities advised its 25 million residents to avoid leaving their homes and evacuated more than 400,000 from their homes. In Chongming, an island located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, 9,000 people also had to be evacuated from their homes.

More than 10,000 trees were uprooted across the city, highways were closed to traffic from 1am and the speed limit on Shanghai’s roads was 40 kilometers per hour.

Since last Sunday night, 570 train routes have been canceled while all flights have been canceled at the city’s two central airports.

Parks and businesses remained closed in the four districts of Shanghai for which the authorities have issued a red alert, while problems were also observed on some subway routes.

According to Chinese media, Typhoon Bebinka is expected to bring heavy rains and winds to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. However, its power is decreasing rapidly, the same source pointed out.

Bebinka passed overnight from Japan’s Amami Island with sustained winds of 198 kilometers per hour, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

On Friday, when Bebinka was still a tropical storm, it hit the Philippines and killed six people from falling trees.

Another typhoon, Yagi, hit southeast Asia last weekend, killing more than 400 people, mostly in Myanmar and Vietnam, but also in Laos and Thailand.