Shanghai was brought to a standstill on Monday by what authorities say was the strongest typhoon to directly hit the Chinese financial hub in more than seven decades, with flights, trains and highways suspended during a national holiday.

More than a hundred thousand people were evacuated from Shanghai as Typhoon Pulasan brought heavy rains that broke local records in parts of the Chinese megacity.

Officials in China moved some 414,000 people out of the way in Shanghai before the strongest storm in decades flooded roads and cancelled flights.