Typhoon Dolphin made landfall in densely populated eastern China on Sunday, triggering massive transport disruptions, hundreds of flight cancellations, and the evacuation of over one million people, according to state broadcaster CCTV and the China Meteorological Administration. The storm arrived after sweeping past Taiwan, Okinawa, and the Philippines, packing maximum wind speeds near its center exceeding 150 kilometers per hour.
Landfall and Meteorological Impact in Zhejiang
The center of Typhoon Dolphin moved over the coastline near Yuhuan City in Zhejiang province at approximately 5:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, according to China’s National Meteorological Centre (NMC). Prior to the storm’s arrival, authorities in Zhejiang evacuated 390,000 people in the city of Taizhou, while neighboring Fujian province relocated nearly 99,000 people from risky areas, state news agency Xinhua reported. Forecasters predicted between 200 and 400 millimeters of rainfall across parts of Zhejiang, Shanghai, and neighboring provinces over a multi-day period, prompting the NMC to issue a red typhoon alert—its most severe warning.
By Monday morning, the NMC downgraded its advisory as the weather system lost power after making two landfalls along the Zhejiang coast. However, state broadcaster CCTV reported that authorities maintained their most severe flash flood alert for eastern and southern Zhejiang. Provincial capital Hangzhou resumed subway services on Monday morning after halting select train operations on Sunday, while Ningbo international airport announced plans to resume flight operations from midday, cautioning passengers about potential residual delays.
Transportation networks across eastern China faced severe interruptions as Typhoon Dolphin converged on the region. Shanghai’s two main passenger airports canceled 943 flights, according to the airport authority, while total flight cancellations in and out of the city approached 1,400 on Sunday. Local authorities in Shanghai evacuated more than 30,000 residents from vulnerable zones. Public transport services, including numerous local train lines, were suspended across the financial hub. In nearby Zhejiang, Hangzhou’s airport reported 270 canceled inbound and outbound flights, while services on more than 200 ferry routes across Zhejiang and Fujian were halted. Further north, extreme weather preparations extended to Beijing, where five districts issued red alerts for heavy rain on Monday, warning residents of potential landslides and flooding risks. The storm’s expansive reach also pushed warm air toward Hong Kong on China’s southern coast, where the Hong Kong Observatory recorded a high temperature of 36.9 degrees Celsius. Typhoon Dolphin’s arrival followed a sequence of severe weather events in the region. Two weeks prior, Typhoon Noul lashed southern Guangdong province, which authorities identified as the strongest storm to hit China earlier that year. Last month, Typhoon Maysak triggered floods in the southern Guangxi region that killed 39 people, while thunderstorms and gale-force winds associated with Maysak killed 11 people and injured 331 in the central province of Hubei, according to official reports. Before reaching mainland China, Typhoon Dolphin impacted Japan’s Okinawa prefecture, where seven people suffered minor injuries—including a man over 100 years old who was blown over by gusts—and 5,290 households lost electricity, according to regional utility Okinawa Electric Power. In Taiwan, the storm forced the suspension of dozens of ferry services and the cancellation of more than 180 flights. In the northern mountain resort city of Baguio in the Philippines, a landslide struck three houses on Sunday, leaving five people rescued and seven missing. Worth a lookRegional Precursors and Regional Toll