1.6m flee Shanghai typhoon

[Nina]

More than a million and a half people in and around Shanghai last night fled the advance of one of the most powerful typhoons to hit the country in a decade.

Typhoon Wipha was recording gusts of 180 miles an hour yesterday evening, a few hours before it was expected to hit the coast to the south of China's business capital.


A satellite image showing typhoon Wipha off China and Taiwan. It was recording gusts of 180mph

The typhoon was said to be nearly the strength of Saomai, which hit the Fujian coast last year and killed 400 people.

It was described as the worst typhoon to hit the region in 50 years.

September marks the peak of the South China Sea typhoon season.

But this year, the Chinese government has warned of an increased number of typhoons, blaming changing weather patterns due to global warming.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/19/wtyphoon119.xml