© Nasa Earth Observatory Handout/EPATyphoon Lekima was expected to dump 90cm (35m inches) on parts of Taiwan before hitting mainland China early on Saturday.
Strongest storm in five years has already cancelled 300 flights and cut power to 40,000 homes in TaiwanChina's weather bureau issued a red alert as super typhoon Lekima approaches Zhejiang province on the eastern coast, after forcing flight cancellations in Taiwan and shutting markets and businesses.
The National Meteorological Centre said the typhoon, the strongest since 2014, was expected to hit the mainland in early on Saturday and then turn north. It has issued gale warnings for the Yangtze river delta region, which includes China's financial hub of Shanghai, a city of 26 million people.
Taiwan has already cancelled flights and ordered markets and schools to close on Friday as the typhoon headed northwest, cutting power to more than 40,000 homes and forcing the island's high-speed rail to suspend most of its services.
The island's authorities issued landslide warnings after an earthquake of magnitude 6 struck its northeastern coast on Thursday, hours before the typhoon approached. It was forecast to bring rainfall of up to 90cm (35 inches) in its northern mountains.
Comment: Yeah, tornadoes never happened in Europe until very recently, when they suddenly started happening all the time!