China said Saturday hundreds of thousands of coastal residents have been evacuated in eastern Zhejiang and Fujian provinces as Typhoon Muifa approaches, but the storm will likely miss the commercial capital Shanghai.

The typhoon, packing winds of up to 162 kilometers per hour, was originally expected to make landfall near Shanghai. But China's Central Meteorological Administration now says Muifa is moving northward toward Shandong province and is expected to skim the coast over the next three days.

Although Shanghai will be spared the full force of typhoon Muifa's high winds and torrential rains, forecasters say the city will likely experience some effects from the storm.

In preparation for Muifa, Chinese authorities canceled more than 100 flights in the region and thousands of ships along the eastern coast were called back to shore.

Authorities also said they were prepared to halt or delay high-speed rail services, depending on the severity of the storm. Emergency officials were readying relief supplies and preparing for evacuations.

Muifa claimed five lives as it passed through the northern and central Philippines earlier this week and lashed the Japanese island of Okinawa Friday with heavy rains and high winds.