Shanghai has canceled a parade and all water trips bound for Zhejiang Province as the city is on full alert for the approaching Typhoon Wipha.

The parade for the Shanghai Tourism Festival, scheduled for tonight at Super Brand Mall in Pudong's Lujiazui area, has been canceled and organizers haven't said if they plan to reschedule, the Shanghai Morning Post reported today.

City tourism agencies have also canceled all trips bound for Zhejiang on water, including trips to Putuo Mountain, Zhoushan City and Lin'an City, the report added.

Shanghai's transport authority ordered operators to only use gas busses, not electrical buses until the storm has passed.

The city's Donghai Bridge may also close as soon as wind speeds reach 133 kilometer an hour.

The Yangshan Marine Bureau said it has dispatched several patrol cars to wait on the 32.5 kilometer long bridge and will officials will tell drivers to slow down if the wind speed is above 102 kph, Huang Dejun, the director of the bureau told the newspaper.

Wipha, packing winds of up to 183kmh, was heading northwest at a speed of 20kmh, the Zhejiang meteorological observatory said at 6pm yesterday. At that time, its epicenter was about 750 kilometers southeast of Jiaojiang, Taizhou, in Zhejiang.

The typhoon will bring torrential rain and gales to Shanghai tomorrow evening, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, which expects the center of Wipha to hit tomorrow night and last for two to three days.

Wipha is a female name in the Thai language.

(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2007)