More than one million people have been evacuated across eastern China following the landfall of Typhoon Dolphin, the most powerful tropical cyclone to hit the country this year, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera. Meteorological authorities reported that the storm struck near Yuhuan in Zhejiang province on Sunday evening, packing maximum sustained winds of 151 kilometers per hour near its center. The destructive weather system brought torrential rain, massive waves, and widespread transport disruptions to densely populated coastal hubs.
Major urban centers, including Shanghai, experienced severe travel restrictions as airport authorities cancelled hundreds of scheduled flights and suspended local ferry services. Local emergency management teams mobilized rapidly to relocate residents from high-risk zones, with cities like Wenzhou and Taizhou accounting for hundreds of thousands of relocations into designated public shelters. Authorities also ordered offshore fishing vessels back to port and stepped up safety checks at construction sites, reservoirs, and mountain areas prone to landslides.
Forecasters warn that although the typhoon has weakened slightly after moving inland, persistent heavy rainfall will continue to pose severe flood risks across several provinces, including Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangsu. The Ministry of Water Resources issued high-level warnings for several regional river basins as water levels threatened to exceed safety thresholds. Emergency response units remain deployed across the affected zones to clear debris, restore damaged infrastructure, and assist communities struggling with the aftermath of the severe weather system.
The disaster highlights the escalating vulnerability of coastal regions to extreme meteorological events amid shifting regional weather patterns. National disaster relief agencies continue to monitor the storm`s slow inland trajectory, urging residents in mountainous and low-lying districts to remain inside secure shelters until official all-clear announcements are issued.
