Typhoon Dolphin made landfall in eastern China on Sunday, according to the country’s weather authorities, where the storm led to the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights, evacuations and the triggering of a maximum level alert.
China’s densely populated eastern coast had been preparing for Dolphin’s arrival for several days, with work and transportation services suspended in some areas in the typhoon’s anticipated path.
The center of the typhoon passed the coastline near the city of Yuhuan, in Zhejiang province, around 5:30 p.m. local time, the National Meteorological Center said in a message posted online.
At the time of impact, maximum winds near the center exceeded 150 kilometers per hour, the CMN said. Nearly 1,400 flights to and from Shanghai’s two main passenger airports were canceled on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Hangzhou airport, in the neighboring province of Zhejiang, canceled 270 flights, according to the same source. The typhoon had consequences as far as Hong Kong, on the southern coast of China, where the meteorological observatory recorded a record temperature of 36.9°C, caused by hot air pushed over the city by Dolphin.
As the storm “tracks toward the outskirts of Zhejiang and progresses inland,” the peripheral air “will continue to bring extremely hot weather to the territory from today until Tuesday,” the Hong Kong Observatory said.
Before reaching China, Typhoon Dolphin brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa.
Seven people on Okinawa were lightly injured, including a man in his 100s who was swept away by gusts, fell to the ground and hit his head, according to the island’s government.
As of Sunday afternoon, 5,290 homes in Okinawa were without electricity, according to regional company Okinawa Electric Power.
In Taiwan, dozens of ferry routes were suspended and more than 180 flights canceled as the storm brought torrential rains and strong winds to the north of the island on Sunday.
China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a red typhoon alert — its highest level — on Sunday morning, forecasting “exceptional torrential rain” in parts of central and eastern Zhejiang.
Heavy rain is also expected to fall in Shanghai and parts of Fujian, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces until Monday afternoon, the NMC said.
Now that Dolphin has made landfall, it is expected to weaken as it heads northwest. In Fujian, nearly 99,000 people were displaced from “risk areas” on Saturday evening, before the arrival of the storm, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
More than 200 ferry lines were suspended in Zhejiang and Fujian and work on offshore projects was halted, while 474 construction vessels were called back to port as of Friday morning, Xinhua added.
Some train services in affected areas were also canceled on Sunday to ensure the safety of passengers, state media reported.
Typhoon Dolphin’s arrival in China comes two weeks after Typhoon Noul hit the southern province of Guangdong. It was named by authorities as the most powerful typhoon to hit China this year.
Three people were killed and hundreds of homes damaged by the typhoon in the Philippines before it reached China.
