As Typhoon Dolphin tracks toward eastern China after drenching northern Taiwan over the weekend, regional authorities have enacted sweeping emergency measures, including mass evacuations and widespread flight disruptions, to mitigate the impact of the powerful storm.
The storm’s outer rain bands first reached northern Taiwan, including the island’s capital Taipei, on Saturday, dumping heavy downpours across the region. In response, multiple Taiwanese air carriers scrapped all scheduled flights bound for mainland China on Sunday, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at airports across the island.
As of Sunday morning, official meteorological data placed the typhoon’s maximum sustained wind speeds at roughly 162 kilometers per hour (101 miles per hour), marking it as a significant weather event capable of causing widespread damage. Forecasters projected the storm would make landfall along the coasts of Zhejiang province and the northern section of neighboring Fujian province by late Sunday, bringing torrential rainfall that raises major risks of flash flooding and dangerous landslides.
In the most hard-hit forecast zones, accumulated rainfall over the coming days is expected to reach between 200 and 400 millimeters (7.9 to 15.7 inches), according to Chinese national meteorological services. Officials in Zhejiang have issued repeated urgent warnings about elevated landslide risks across the province’s mountainous and hilly areas, urging residents to heed evacuation orders immediately.
In Shanghai, the country’s busiest aviation hub, both of the city’s major international airports – Pudong and Hongqiao – have canceled more than 1,300 flights scheduled for Sunday, accounting for roughly 60 percent of the day’s planned operations, per reports from Shanghai-based state media outlet The Paper.
Emergency evacuation efforts have been underway across the region since Saturday evening. In the Zhejiang city of Taizhou alone, officials have relocated more than 390,000 residents from low-lying and high-risk areas. Shanghai authorities have also evacuated more than 30,000 people from coastal and flood-prone zones, bringing the total number of relocated residents across the affected regions to more than 720,000.
In additional safety measures, Zhejiang provincial authorities have suspended all water-based recreational and commercial activities, including inter-island ferry services and passenger cruise operations, until the storm passes and safety inspections can be completed.