Typhoon Bebinca toppled trees and caused water damage in a building at Duke Kunshan University, according to students on Duke’s flagship campus in China.
The typhoon made landfall Monday in Shanghai, about 40 miles east of DKU. It was the strongest typhoon to hit the city since 1949, prompting the preemptive evacuation of over 414,000 people.
The University did not respond for comment in time for publication about the impact of the storm on campus facilities.
“I kind of underestimated it … because typhoons of this kind have usually, historically missed Shanghai,” said DKU senior Soumya Lahoti. “This is the first time it’s actually hit Shanghai and those surrounding areas.”
According to DKU junior Enzo Rovira, the damage was quickly addressed by University administration and “you can barely tell that there [was any] damage” on the campus walkways and frequented areas.
DKU had no scheduled classes on Monday and Tuesday due to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
According to DKU senior Emma Yun, while a considerable number of students were off-campus due to the break, many remained on-campus.
“I think a lot of people weren't prepared for … how bad [the] storm would be,” she said, adding how students were “joking” about it. “... When things did start picking up around the afternoon time, there were a lot of people who [didn’t have] food ready for them, [but] at that point it was pretty dangerous to be going outside.”
On Sunday, DKU undergraduates received an email with a “Typhoon Amber” alert, noting that Bebinca had forecasted winds of 80 to 100 kilometers per hour, and that total rainfall could exceed 150 to 200 milliliters. Students were instructed to avoid going outside if necessary, close all windows and doors and move any loose items on balconies to indoor areas.
According to Rovira, the impact of the typhoon was felt for about 10 hours.
He said it was mid-morning when students started seeing “metal grates fly” and “trees starting to get blown over.” He described that about 30 trees were tilted to the side in a forested area near the campus library.
Lahoti similarly shared that while looking out her dorm window, she saw a number of trees fall. She said she heard of other students who had water leaks in their dorm.
Yun noted some downed trees blocking entrances to dorm buildings and the cafeteria.
Rovira shared that the ceiling of a common room “gave in partially” due to “waterlogging.” Yun also noted this damage, explaining that a hole made the sky visible from the room.
Rovira also recalled “two or three” cases of water entering students’ dorms.
Additionally, the two noted that on Monday, a temporary policy enabled residence assistants to “write incident reports” to Student Conduct if they saw students going out in the storm or encouraging others to do so.
In Kunshan, where the DKU campus is located, two people reportedly died after being electrocuted from a falling high-voltage power line.
The damage presents a disruption for the young campus, which recently won an award for its design and landscaping. The campus currently has conceptual plans to expand after completing a construction project that doubled its size last May.
DKU recently welcomed its largest-ever class of 490 students amid uncertainty surrounding its future. The school’s initial agreement — a partnership between Duke and Wuhan University — is set to expire in 2028, and Duke administrators have not made clear whether the venture would continue. Plans remain in place for continued campus expansion.
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Michael Austin is a Trinity junior and managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.
Jazper Lu is a Trinity senior and centennial/elections editor for The Chronicle's 120th volume. He was previously managing editor for Volume 119.