[Weather] Shanghai Braces for Heavy Rain As Typhoon Champi Approaches

Typhoon Champi and cold air will bring heavy rain and strong winds to Shanghai from Friday evening to Saturday, according to Shanghai's meteorological observatory, with some areas facing particularly intense downpours.

An earlier forecast put rainfall totals at 50-70 millimeters across much of the city, rising to 90-120 millimeters along the eastern and southern coasts and around 150 millimeters at isolated monitoring stations.

Winds will strengthen around midnight on Friday. Inland gusts are forecast to reach forces of 6-7. Winds of that strength can set large branches swaying, make umbrellas difficult to use, and hinder people walking into the wind.

Along the rivers and coast, gusts could reach forces of 7-8. At the upper end, winds can break twigs from trees and make headway on foot difficult.

By 9am today, weather authorities in Pudong, Fengxian, Chongming, Jinshan, Baoshan and Qingpu had issued blue typhoon alerts, the lowest level in China's four-tier warning system.

At 10am today, Typhoon Champi was about 325 kilometers southeast of Taipei, China's National Meteorological Center said in its latest bulletin. Maximum winds near its center were 45 meters per second, or 162 kilometers per hour.

The storm is moving northwest at around 20km/h and is expected to weaken gradually as it approaches the northeast of Taiwan. It could brush the island's northeastern coast between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Champi is forecast to enter the southern East China Sea on Saturday morning, then turn north or north-northwest. It is expected to track north just offshore of eastern Zhejiang around Sunday before turning northeast toward southwestern Japan.

A brush with the Zhejiang coast on Sunday remains possible. The latest bulletin does not specify a landfall location.

Preparing for flooding

Authorities in Shanghai have been lowering river and lake levels to create an estimated 320 million cubic meters of storage for rainwater. Drainage crews are also clearing outlets and positioning pumps at locations vulnerable to flooding.

They are stepping up inspections on 442 vulnerable sections of the embankment identified during an earlier typhoon. Neighborhoods are placing flood barriers and sandbags at vulnerable sites.

Friday's high is forecast to be 22-23 degrees Celsius.

Next week, brief showers are possible in parts of Shanghai during the daytime on Monday, with another spell possible around Thursday. Wednesday's high is forecast to fall to 19 degrees Celsius.