Typhoon slams eastern China

   A major typhoon slammed into eastern China Wednesday, causing flooding and evacuations in the country’s financial hub of Shanghai and wreaking havoc with air and ocean cargo.
   Typhoon Haikui made landfall south of Shanghai, in Zhejiang Province, with winds nearing 90 mph, forcing the evacuation of 1.5 million people in the region. Zhejiang Province is home to Ningbo, one of the world’s largest container ports, and Hangzhou, the province’s capital.
   “Cargo shipments coming to and from China’s Zhejiang province, including the ports of Shanghai and Ningbo, have been delayed by at least a day,” the logistics services provider Deringer said in a customer notice Wednesday. “Several thousand ships were anchored or ordered to port and flights were cancelled in anticipation of the arrival of Typhoon Haikui.”
   More than 700 domestic and international flights were cancelled to and from Shanghai’s two airports, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, while Shanghai’s seaport (the world’s busiest container port) was shut pre-emptively on Tuesday night.
   The storm was reported to have weakened Thursday at dawn Shanghai time.