Thousands of flights cancelled as Typhoon Bavi hits eastern China bringing heavy rains

Typhoon Bavi made landfall in eastern China on Saturday night, the second major storm to hit the country in a week, causing thousands of flight and train cancellations while more than 2.4 million people were evacuated from areas in the path of the storm.More than 2,800 flights were likely to be cancelled by Chinese airlines as of 8pm on Saturday, the state news agency Xinhua reported.Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports were set to cancel over 650 flights, about 30 per cent of their capacity, the local airport authorities said.Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport also cancelled 296 flights on Sunday but planned to resume flights after noon as Bavi’s influence weakened.Two of the four main stations in the city – the southern and western stations – cancelled all trains for the day, while some other services were also suspended.Spanning 1,000km (600 miles) at its widest point – roughly the width of mainland France – Typhoon Bavi first came ashore in the coastal city of Taizhou, Zhejiang at 11.12pm before making a second landfall in Wenzhou city around midnight.