China Relies on Evacuation as Typhoon Dolphin Hits Eastern Coast
Chinese authorities evacuated more than 1 million people from their homes, including the financial hub of Shanghai, after Typhoon Dolphin slammed into the eastern coast on Sunday evening. The severe storm triggered heavy rainfall, halted transportation and led to the cancellation of roughly 1,000 flights in Shanghai.
Even though the storm has slowly downgraded to a tropical storm, officials continue to warn that torrential rain, severe flooding and landslides could persist through Wednesday, as the cyclone moved northward.
The storm, one of the strongest to hit China this year, delivered a maximum wind speed of 150 km/h (94 mph) when it first struck Yuhuan in Zhejiang province at 17:30 local time on Sunday, before making a second landfall in Wenzhou an hour later.
Heavy rain is expected across Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, with Zhejiang likely seeing 250–500 mm of rainfall over the next few days.
Local authorities urged residents to avoid outdoor activities; tourist attractions such as Disneyland, Legoland and shops on the Bund remain closed. Several state‑media outlets have shown flooded ground‑floor businesses in Shanghai’s former French Concession and people wading through ankle‑deep water.
A 60‑year‑old man was detained for distributing a fake video claiming a Shanghai resident had fallen from a building during the storm, and a 32‑year‑old man was detained for editing storm footage in a misleading way.
The storm’s reach extends beyond China, bringing torrential rains to the Philippines, parts of northern Taiwan and Japan’s Okinawa before striking China.
Eight deaths in the Philippines have been attributed to monsoon rains linked to Dolphin, while the Hong Kong weather observatory recorded a record high temperature of 36.9 °C during the typhoon sweep.
With a strong El Niño year, experts say the 2026 typhoon season could see storms grow to be more intense than usual.
