Krosa has another crack at the city

 
A pedestrian passes a tree felled by the wind brought by Typhoon Krosa on Yuyuan Road yesterday. The tree's fall brought down overhead wires, cutting power to some households.

TYPHOON Krosa will probably continue challenging the city's road and water traffic for a few more days.

Freighters and tankers berthed at Wusong Port yesterday morning not only had to use anchors but ran their engines as well to maintain stability at their berths.

The wind became stronger soon after midnight on Sunday at the Wusong Port, near the mouth of the Yangtze River and reached Level 11 at speeds of up to 115 kilometers an hour by noon yesterday, said Wang Jiqin, an official with the Wusong Maritime Safety Administration.

Wang said 25 large ships berthed at the port were affected by the gales but precautions were taken in time.

"These vessels are at least 5,000 tons and some are more than 10,000 tons. Usually two anchors are enough to stabilize these ships when they are berthed but this was not enough to handle these gales," said Wang.

The ships had to keep their engines running and face into the gales to avoid being moved dangerously.

"It is very rare that large vessels have to rely on this to remain stable in the port," Wang said.

If the vessels had not been stabilized, there was a chance they might drift away causing a hazard to other shipping.

"Drifting ships could also ground on reefs or break up on beaches," Wang explained.

By yesterday morning more than 260 large vessels had reached local anchorages and safe ports to avoid the gales and heavy seas.

The Wusong maritime authority also had 16 speed boats on patrol at the mouth of the Yangtze River to look for and escort vessels to safety.

"We are on alert and ready in case the gales might attack the city again in the next couple of days," Wang said.

Typhoon Krosa turned into a tropical storm and moved out to sea after meeting a cold front in the north.

However, the maritime safety administration is concerned that the storm might grow stronger again at sea and return to the city a second time.

Passenger ferries to three local islands and between Shanghai and Zhejiang Province were all out of service yesterday and there was no estimate of when they would resume.

Ferries across the Huangpu River also canceled services from early yesterday morning as the wind grew stronger.

Because of the shutdown of the ferry services traffic police launched an emergency plan early yesterday morning and allowed bikes and mopeds to use the Xupu Bridge and three tunnels on the Fuxing, Xiangyin and Dalian roads.

Traffic police officers directed traffic cyclists onto the vehicle lanes of the bridge and tunnels which are normally only used by vehicles.

"To help smooth rush hour traffic on the first working day after the holiday and to cope with the stormy weather, patrol officers started their shifts earlier than usual across the town," said Sun Guofu, an officer with the General Team of Traffic police.

The Humin Elevated Road, connecting the Xinzhuang residential area and Xujiahui commercial area, suffered serious traffic congestion in the morning rush hour yesterday.

More than 70 long-distance bus shuttles to some destinations in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces were canceled yesterday afternoon.

"The buses have been canceled because of the poor road conditions," said Zheng Yongbin, head of the local long-distance coach general station.

The Shanghai Highway Administration said they had imposed speed limits of between 60 to 80 kilometers per hour yesterday on local expressways.

About 30 flights were delayed or canceled at Pudong International Airport.