Thunderstorms bring traffic chaos in Shanghai
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, July 16, 2014
More than 100 flights were canceled and another 110 delayed at Shanghai's two airports yesterday due to thunderstorms that also brought flooding to roads in the city.
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A scooter rider makes a splash while braving the elements at Yunling Road W. in Shanghai during yesterday's downpour. [Photo/Shanghai Daily] |
By 11am, 46 flights to Beijing, Guangzhou and other Chinese cities had been canceled at the Hongqiao International Airport.
Hongqiao was affected more severely than the Pudong International Airport, where 60 flights were delayed.
Most flights between Shanghai and Beijing -- the busiest route for the city's airports -- were delayed or canceled up to last night due to the conditions or air traffic controls.
Although the weather later cleared up, the Shanghai Airport Authority said most flights to Beijing last night were still delayed by more than two hours.
Delays were also expected on the Shanghai-Beijing route today through the rest of the week due to air traffic controls, said officials.
Yesterday's was the heaviest rainfall since the end of plum rain season earlier this month, bringing flooding to roads in suburban districts and gridlock to downtown traffic in morning rush hour.
Showers and some thunder and lightning are expected today and tomorrow with temperatures rising to 33 degrees Celsius -- nearly 10 degrees higher than yesterday, local forecasters said.
The city's weather authority issued a rainstorm yellow alert, the third-highest, at 7am yesterday as more than 30 monitoring stations around the city recorded rainfall of 50 millimeters per hour.
Among areas affected were downtown Xuhui, Putuo and Changning districts, the Pudong New Area and suburban Qingpu, Minhang and Jiading districts.
By 9am, 30 major roads in Pudong and Jiading were flooded, causing widespread traffic disruption.
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