Typhoon Maemi is expected to bring Shanghai showers and strong winds as it heads north about 300 kilometers from Shanghai's coastline Friday morning.

Maemi was 650 kilometers southeast of the city yesterday afternoon and was moving northward at 13 kilometers per hour.

Local meteorologists forecast in June that the city would have one to two major typhoons hit or pass near the city this summer.

The absence of typhoons so far this summer has left local residents suffering through 40 days with temperatures topping 35 degrees -- two days less than the city's hottest summer in 1953.

"The typhoon will affect the city beginning late last night and early this morning, which is also the time of high tide in Huangpu River, so authorities should be aware of this timing," said Dai Xinfu, chief meteorologist with the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.

The winds at the center of Maemi have reached 198 kilometers per hour.

The winds in downtown this morning are expected to hit Force 6 to 7 (39 to 61 kilometers per hour).

Strong winds are expected to be the biggest effect the typhoon has on the city and local authorities said yesterday that they are fully prepared for the storm.

Last year, Typhoon Rammasun visited the city in early July, it killed five people and injured 44 migrant workers by pulling down their working shed at night.

The strong winds also pushed local authorities to suspend 21 ferry lines and forced the city's two major airports to cancel or delay 230 flights.

However, Maemi is expected to be weaker than Rammasun in terms of wind force, according to local meteorologists.

Today's high will be 27 degrees Celsius, 3 degrees lower than yesterday, local meteorologists said.

When Maemi hit Japan yesterday, it flipped over cars and toppled telephone poles.

One person was killed and at least 94 were injured, according to Japanese officials.

An 86-year-old woman died after being hit by glass shards from a window at her retirement home, according to the Okinawa Prefectural Disaster Prevention Office.

The office, in a statement, said another woman was in serious condition.

Eight people were hospitalized, mostly with injuries caused by flying glass, the statement said.

Dozens of homes were flooded or severely damaged and three fishing boats sunk as Typhoon Maemi raged through the night over Miyakojima, the hardest hit Japanese island, officials said.

(eastday.com September 12, 2003)