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The Category 1 typhoon, packing maximum sustained wind speeds near its center of around 144 kph, was about 500 km south-east of Shanghai as at 1 p.m.
It is expected to make landfall along China’s densely populated eastern seaboard between the night of Sept. 15 and the morning of Sept. 16, according to Beijing’s Emergency Management Ministry.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that all flights at Shanghai’s two main airports would be canceled from 8 p.m. on Sept. 15 because of the storm.
"Affected by typhoon Bebinca, the traffic capacity of Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports has decreased today," CCTV said.
Resorts in Shanghai, including Shanghai Disney Resort, Jinjiang Amusement Park and Shanghai Wild Animal Park, have been temporarily closed, while most ferries have been halted to and from Chongming Island – China’s third-biggest island, known as "the gateway to the Yangtze River".
In Zhejiang, ships have been recalled, while several parks in the provincial capital Hangzhou announced closures.
Bebinca’s arrival will coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival, a nationwide three-day holiday when many Chinese travel or engage in outdoor activities.
Beijing’s Emergency Management Ministry said in a statement on Sept. 14 that the storm would cause "heavy to torrential" downpours, with "local heavy or extremely heavy rainstorms" between Sept. 15 and 17.
Officials held a meeting on Sept. 14 to "research and deploy flood and typhoon control work in key areas", it said.
The strongest storm to make landfall in Shanghai in recent decades was typhoon Gloria in 1949, which tore through the city with gusts of 144 kmh. Shanghai was last threatened by a direct hit in 2022 by the powerful Typhoon Muifa, which instead landed 300 km away in the city of Zhoushan, in Zhejiang province.
Shanghai is typically spared the strong typhoons that hit further south in China, including Yagi, a destructive Category 4 storm that roared past southern Hainan province last week. But Shanghai and neighboring provinces are taking no chances with Category 1 Bebinca.
