- Over one million people were evacuated in China
- Typhoon Dolphin caused heavy rain and flooding
- The storm disrupted flights and transport
More than one million people have been moved from vulnerable areas in eastern China as Typhoon Dolphin swept across the region, bringing powerful winds, intense rainfall and widespread disruption.
Eko Hot Blog reports that Shanghai and several provinces were badly affected after the storm made landfall in Zhejiang on Sunday.
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The weather system caused major transport problems, with nearly 1,000 flights cancelled in Shanghai on Monday.
Although Dolphin has since weakened to a tropical storm, Chinese authorities have continued to warn residents about dangerous rainfall, flooding and possible landslides.
The threat is expected to remain through Wednesday as the storm tracks northward.
Dolphin was previously placed under China’s highest-level red alert, making it the strongest storm to hit the country so far this year.
Meteorological officials said the typhoon initially struck Yuhuan in Zhejiang at about 17:30 local time on Sunday, carrying winds of up to 150km/h. Roughly an hour later, it made another landfall near Wenzhou.
Several parts of eastern and central China, including Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as well as Shanghai, were warned to prepare for heavy rainfall.
Authorities have advised residents to remain indoors and avoid unnecessary travel. A number of popular tourist destinations have also been closed, including sections of Disneyland and Legoland, while viewing areas along Shanghai’s Bund have been shut.
Flooding has already affected parts of Shanghai, with state media showing water entering ground-floor businesses in the city’s former French Concession. Some streets were also flooded, forcing pedestrians to move through ankle-deep water.
A nine-year-old boy in Wenling, Zhejiang, was reportedly swept into the sea and remains missing, according to state media. Officials had not confirmed any deaths linked to the storm at the time of the report.
Forecasters expect some parts of Zhejiang to receive between 250mm and 500mm of rainfall over the coming days.
In Hangzhou, the provincial capital, authorities have removed parking charges in public parking areas to allow people seeking protection from the storm to leave their vehicles safely.
Wenzhou has evacuated about 900,000 residents and established more than 1,000 emergency shelters. Taizhou, another city in Zhejiang, has also moved approximately 390,000 people from areas considered at risk.
Further south in Fujian province, authorities have suspended dozens of ferry services and stopped more than 100 offshore construction operations as a safety measure.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that Dolphin travelled roughly 6,000km before reaching China, giving it an unusually long lifespan compared with a typical typhoon. The broadcaster also described the storm as having a very large circulation and the capacity to produce intense rainfall.
The storm has also prompted authorities to take action over misleading information circulating online. State media reported that two people had been detained over content considered false or deceptive.
One of those detained, a 60-year-old man, allegedly used artificial intelligence to create a fabricated video suggesting that someone in Shanghai had fallen from a building during the storm. Another suspect, aged 32, reportedly altered footage from the storm in a way authorities considered misleading.
Before reaching China, Dolphin brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Philippines, northern Taiwan and Japan’s Okinawa region.
The Philippines recorded eight deaths linked to monsoon rains associated with Dolphin and other storms earlier in the week, according to the Office of Civil Defence. More than 7,000 people were also staying in evacuation centres across the country.
In Okinawa, five elderly residents sustained injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Three of them reportedly fell because of powerful winds.
Hong Kong also experienced unusual weather as the storm pushed warm air over the territory. Its observatory recorded a temperature of 36.9C on Sunday, marking a record high.
Typhoons are common in the western Pacific between May and October. Experts have also warned that strong El Niño conditions can contribute to more intense typhoon activity.
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