Typhoon Dolphin forced large-scale evacuations across eastern China after striking Zhejiang province, flooding streets, damaging buildings and bringing transport in Shanghai and other major cities to an abrupt and rather comprehensive stop.
Chinese authorities initially issued their highest-level red alert as Dolphin approached the coast. It was the strongest storm to hit the country that year, with winds of about 150km/h when it reached Yuhuan at 5:30pm local time on Sunday. The system made a second landfall near Wenzhou roughly an hour later.
Although Dolphin was later downgraded to a tropical storm, officials warned that heavy rain, flooding and landslides could continue through Wednesday as the system moved inland.
Where did Dolphin move after landfall?
By 4pm on Monday, China’s National Meteorological Center had placed the storm over Shangrao in Jiangxi province. Its winds had fallen to about 72km/h, and it was moving northwest at between 15 and 20km/h.
Dolphin had travelled roughly 6,000km across the western Pacific before reaching China. State broadcaster CCTV said its lifespan was more than three times that of an average typhoon, while its unusually broad circulation allowed it to carry a substantial amount of rain. Apparently, arriving weakened was not the same as arriving quietly.
Heavy rainfall was forecast across Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Estimates varied between reports, with the Associated Press citing forecasts of 200mm to 400mm in some areas, while other forecasters warned that parts of Zhejiang could receive as much as 250mm to 500mm over several days.
Authorities urged residents to avoid unnecessary outdoor activity as the storm continued moving north and west.
How badly were Shanghai and Zhejiang affected?
Shanghai experienced flooding in low-lying areas, including the former French Concession, where state media footage showed water entering ground-floor businesses and pedestrians wading through ankle-deep streets.
Sections of major attractions, including Disneyland and Legoland, were closed. Several viewing platforms along the Bund were also shut, depriving visitors of the opportunity to observe the extreme weather from an exposed waterfront.
Air travel was heavily disrupted. Nearly 1,000 flights were reported cancelled in Shanghai on Monday. The Associated Press separately counted more than 1,300 cancellations on Sunday, equivalent to about 60% of the city’s scheduled flights that day.
In Wenzhou, reports described uprooted trees, collapsed structures and damaged vehicles. CCTV said rescue crews searched flooded homes in Yueqing and worked to clear debris. Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang, waived fees at public parking facilities so drivers could move vehicles away from strong winds and rising water.
A nine-year-old boy from Wenling was reported missing after being swept into the sea. Chinese authorities had announced no deaths as of Monday’s update.
How many people were evacuated?
The evacuation figures remain unusually difficult to reconcile. Reports based on local authorities said around 900,000 residents had been relocated in Wenzhou, where more than 1,000 emergency shelters were opened. A further 390,000 people were reportedly moved in Taizhou, while more than 30,000 were evacuated in Shanghai.
Those local totals support reports that more than one million people left their homes. However, the Associated Press also cited a national figure of more than 300,000 relocated residents, even while separately reporting the larger Taizhou number.
The mismatch may reflect different reporting times, geographic boundaries or definitions of evacuation and temporary relocation. It may also show the hazards of combining municipal and provincial statistics while a fast-moving emergency is still underway. In short, the storm was easier to track than the spreadsheet.
What is clear is that hundreds of thousands of people were moved from exposed coastal and flood-prone areas, with Zhejiang carrying much of the disruption.
What happened beyond China’s main impact zone?
Dolphin’s effects extended well beyond Zhejiang and Shanghai. In the coastal province of Fujian, maritime authorities suspended dozens of passenger ferry services and halted more than 100 offshore construction projects as seas deteriorated.
The storm also intensified monsoon rainfall in the Philippines. According to the Associated Press, more than 12,000 people were displaced, while flooding affected metropolitan Manila. Seven people remained missing after a landslide in Baguio.
Northern Taiwan experienced heavy rain and flight cancellations as Dolphin passed through the wider region before reaching mainland China.
The cross-border disruption underlined the storm’s unusually long journey and wide rain field. While its winds weakened after landfall, the main danger shifted to sustained rainfall, swollen waterways and unstable slopes. Chinese forecasters expected further weakening, but emergency warnings remained in place because tropical systems do not need typhoon-strength winds to produce serious flooding.
