Typhoon “Pulasan” hits Shangahi, bringing record breaking rainfall and flooding, China
Typhoon “Pulasan” made landfall in Shanghai, China, on Thursday, September 19, 2024, bringing in over 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain in just 6 hours. Around 112 000 people were evacuated, barricades were set up, and several trains and ferry services were suspended as precautionary measures.
Image credit: Eric Wang
- Typhoon “Pulasan” made landfall in Shanghai’s Fengxian District on Thursday, bringing over 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain in about 6 hours.
- The heavy rains and strong winds led to severe flooding, submerging a major portion of the city.
- Around 112 000 people were evacuated across the city.
- This is the second typhoon to hit Shanghai this week.
Typhoon “Pulasan” made its first landfall in China’s Zhejiang province at around 18:45 LT on Thursday, September 19, with maximum wind speeds near the center reaching 90 km/h (56 mph). It struck Daishan County in the coastal city of Zhoushan.
Its second landfall took place at around 21:45 LT in Fengxian, Shanghai, with maximum wind speeds of 83 km/h (52 mph). Within six hours, over 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain was recorded by meteorological stations in Fengxian and Pudong Districts, breaking historical records for both regions since record-keeping began.
The heavy rains and strong winds led to severe flooding, submerging a major portion of the city. Citizens were seen using make-shift rafts to navigate through the floods.
Parts of Shanghai upgraded their weather alerts as the storm approached. At 09:30 LT on Thursday, Zhejiang raised its emergency response for typhoon prevention to Level III, and the National Meteorological Center also renewed the Yellow Alert for the typhoon.
China has a four-tier emergency response system, with Level I being the most severe response, and a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe level, followed by orange, yellow, and blue.
At least 112 000 people had been evacuated in Shanghai by the morning of Friday, September 20. A total of 649 vessels had either been evacuated or returned to port for shelter, 54 trains were suspended, and 26 ferries halted.
Around 72 ferry route services were also suspended, 20 coastal projects were halted and barricades were set up as precautionary measures.
Rainfall began to intensify at around 02:00 LT on Friday in Shanghai, and average rainfall had reached 73.28 mm (2.88 inches) by 09:00 LT. A total of 151 out of 614 weather stations recorded heavy to extreme rainfall levels.
A multi-vortex tornado touched down in Qingpu district, Shanghai on Friday, narrowly missing a radar. There are no reports of damage.
Pulasan is the second typhoon to make landfall in China this year, following Typhoon “Bebinca” on Monday, September 16. Bebinca triggered over a dozen tornadoes across Jiangsu and Shangdong provinces on Tuesday.
According to the JTWC, the system will begin tracking eastward in accelerating flow along the polar front. The enhanced thermal gradient immediately to the north will cause the system to initiate the transition process to an extratropical cyclone within the next twelve hours, even though it will emerge over water and intensify modestly.
The primary factor causing the intensification is the tightening pressure gradient and forward motion of the system, in addition to favorably warm sea surface temperatures (27 – 29 °C) beneath. As the system morphs into an extratropical low due to increasing baroclinicity and undergoes frontogenesis, it will become increasingly asymmetric, making landfall in the southern Republic of Korea near 09:00 UTC on September 21.
The land interaction and a 315 km/h (196 mph) combined jet max overhead will continue to degrade the tropical characteristics of the system, resulting in a fully extratropical cyclone by 21:00 UTC on September 21.
References:
1 Typhoon Pulasan makes 2nd landfall in China – Xinhua – September 19, 2024
2 Shanghai evacuates hundreds of thousands as Typhoon Pulasan triggers heavy rainfall – Xinhua – September 19, 2024
3 Typhoon Pulasan floods Shanghai – VOA -September 20, 2024
4 East China province braces for Typhoon Pulasan –Xinhua -September 19, 2024
I am an Assistant Editor and Severe Weather & Science Journalist at The Watchers, specializing in real-time severe weather coverage, geophysical event reporting, and research-driven scientific analysis. You can reach me at rishav(at)watchers(.)news.
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