SHANGHAI/TAIPEI: China’s weather bureau issued a red alert early on Friday as super typhoon Lekima approaches Zhejiang province on the eastern coast. The National Meteorological Centre said the typhoon, the strongest since 2014, was expected to hit the mainland early on Saturday and then turn northwards. It has issued gale warnings for the Yangtze river delta region, which includes Shanghai.

Heavy rains and level-10 gales are expected to hit Shanghai on Friday and continue until Sunday with some 16,000 suburban residents set to be evacuated, the official Shanghai Daily reported. Ticket sales of some weekend trains from Shanghai have already been suspended. Cruise liners have been asked to delay their arrival in Shanghai.

The Ministry of Water Resources has also warned of flood risks in the eastern, downstream sections of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers until Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Taiwan cancelled flights and ordered the closure of markets and schools as the typhoon bears northwest, cutting power to more than 40,000 homes and forcing the island’s high speed rail operators to suspend most of its services. More than 300 flights to and from Taiwan were cancelled.

The island’s authorities issued landslide warnings after an earthquake of magnitude 6 struck its northeastern coast on Thursday, hours before the typhoon approached, which was forecast to bring rainfall of up to 900 mm (35 inches) in its northern mountains.

China is routinely hit by typhoons in its hot summer months but weather officials said last week that, so far, there have been unusually few this year.