Typhoon Chan-hom
People look on as waves, under the influence of Typhoon Chan-hom, hit the shore in Wenling, Zhejiang province, China, July 10, 2015. More than 865,000 people have been evacuated from China's eastern province of Zhejiang ahead of Saturday's expected landfall of Typhoon Chan-Hom, state news agency Xinhua said. Picture taken July 10, 2015. Reuters/William Hong

Update as of 6:07 a.m. EDT: Typhoon Chan-hom made landfall in China on Saturday afternoon local time, local media reported.

The typhoon reached land at 4:40 p.m. in the city of Zhoushan in Zhejiang province. Images broadcast on local television showed heavy rains and flooding, according to the Associated Press.

There have been no reports of damage or injuries thus far.

Original story below

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from heavily populated Chinese coastal cities, including the commercial capital Shanghai, as a strong typhoon bears down on the country.

Typhoon Chan-hom is expected to make landfall on Saturday afternoon local time. At 5 a.m. (5 p.m. EDT Friday), the storm was about 185 km (115 miles) away from Xiangshan County in Ningbo city, with wind speeds at the center of up to 52 meters per second, China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Over 960,000 people have been evacuated by the authorities as the storm approaches, Xinhua reported. The storm could be the worst to hit the region since 1949, the NMC warned. The agency has maintained its highest level of alert, despite downgrading the storm from “super” to “strong” early Saturday.

More than 400 flights at Shanghai's two airports were canceled, along with 330 long-distance bus journeys and several trains, Agence France-Presse reported. In addition, approximately 30,000 fishing vessels in Zhejiang province were called back to port.

Authorities in Shanghai urged people to stay indoors to wait out the storm, and canceled several public events scheduled for Saturday. Local media broadcast images of large waves battering the coast, heavy rains and flooded fields.

The storm has already struck the Philippines earlier this week, where it left five people dead. It also struck Taiwan and Japan, where it caused minor damage and injured at least 22 people, but caused no deaths.

Chan-hom will be the second major storm to hit China in the last week, after tropical storm Linfa made landfall on the coast of Guangdong province further south, but caused little damage.

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