Typhoon Bebinca lashes Shanghai in strongest storm to hit city since 1949

By Casey Hall and Ryan Woo

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The normally-bustling financial hub of Shanghai was brought to a standstill on Monday as residents sheltered at home to wait out the worst of Typhoon Bebinca.

The Category 1 storm, which made landfall in Shanghai on Monday morning, is the most powerful tropical cyclone to directly hit the city in more than seven decades.

Packing top wind speeds of 151 kph (94 mph) near its eye, Bebinca landed in the city of nearly 25 million around 7:30 a.m. (2330 GMT), state media reported, the strongest storm to strike Shanghai since Typhoon Gloria in 1949.

Rain lashed the city and strong winds felled more than 10,000 trees across Shanghai as more than 400,000 people were evacuated from at-risk homes in Bebinca's path.

More than 56,000 rescue workers were deployed and, by early afternoon only one injury had been reported as a result of the storm, according to state media reports.

More than 1,400 flights from the city's two airports and over 570 passenger trains have been cancelled since Sunday evening, disrupting the travel plans of many people on the move over the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, a three-day public holiday in China.

Parks and businesses were closed as four districts in Shanghai upgraded weather alerts to the highest possible level, some metro train services were disrupted and highways and elevated roads were also closed to traffic or had special speed restrictions in place.

Resorts in Shanghai, including Shanghai Disney Resort, Jinjiang Amusement Park and Shanghai Wild Animal Park, have been temporarily closed and many ferries halted.

By early Monday afternoon, the eye of the storm had crossed from Shanghai to the neighbouring Jiangsu province, though rains were expected to continue in China's financial capital throughout the rest of the day.

Shanghai is rarely subject to direct hits from strong typhoons that generally make landfall further south in China. Yagi, a destructive Category 4 storm, roared past southern Hainan province last week.

(Reporting by Casey Hall and Ryan Woo; Editing by Tom Hogue and Michael Perry)