(Edit Aug. 9, 2012: For update on what happened when the typhoon hit, see the end of this post)

We didn’t have a real typhoon in quite some time in Shanghai, the last big one that hit Shanghai directly was back in 2005. But there is a good chance that tomorrow typhoon Haikui will hit land just south of the city, meaning that some extreme weather might be on the way.

The city already evacuated 200,000 people in coastal areas and tonight at 9 pm, some extra measures will come into effect according to a government directive (translation: Shanghaiist):

1. All outdoor mass activities to be stopped.
2. All parks, tourist destinations and recreational parks to be shut.
3. All summer and extra-curricular classes to be stopped, but teachers to report to work as usual (to take care of students who have come to class because they were unaware of the latest regulations)
4. All cruise activities on the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek to be stopped.
5. All one-day tours to be postponed to another date.
6. All outdoor construction work to be stopped.
7. No ships to be allowed out of port (unless on emergency public affairs). All ships outside to return to port as soon as possible.

Let’s see what will happen, but if the storm should indeed hit Shanghai I will stay home tomorrow!

Update: The tropical storm landed about 100 km south of Shanghai and caused heavy wind and rain. Around 12 PM most people were advised to leave their offices and go home. In our compound several trees fell down and the roads were flooded. Downtown Shanghai things were much worse, with both the Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River flowing over their banks and causing flooding in downtown Shanghai. Several people were wounded by falling glass or even airconditioning units, and in Nanjing one person died when a tree fell over. This morning (Thursday) everything was fine again, no more rain, still some wind but not a lot, and I even saw the sun again.