Shanghai gets biggest rainfall in 5 decades in the wake of Typhoon Fitow

BEIJING, China - Shanghai city officials have closed more than 60 parks and the city zoo as residents wade through flood waters after heavy rains hit the financial hub in the aftermath of Typhoon Fitow.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that Shanghai had been hit with 152 millimeters (six inches) or rain, the highest single-day total since 1961.

Xinhua says that although the typhoon landed Monday in the southeastern province of Fujian, the neighbouring province of Zhejiang has been hit the hardest, with the death toll now at six. Schools have been closed, and power and transportation disrupted throughout the province.

In its capital city of Hangzhou, the water level for the scenic West Lake has risen 280 millimeters (11 inches), flooding lakeside walkways.