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Tropical Storm Dolphin batters eastern China with heavy rain, strong winds
Dolphin is forecast to move deeper inland to the central provinces of Hubei and Henan in the coming days.
Tropical Storm Dolphin is sweeping through eastern China, bringing torrential rain and storms as authorities warned of severe flooding and landslides.
By Monday, the typhoon had weakened into a tropical storm as it moved inland and lost energy, but continued to soak eastern provinces including Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong.
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Dolphin came ashore late on Sunday as a typhoon in Yuhuan, Zhejiang province, with maximum sustained winds of 151 kilometres per hour (94mph), having triggered China’s highest weather alert.
The National Meteorological Center (NMC) activated a “red alert – the highest level in the country’s typhoon warning system” as Dolphin approached, according to an official statement on the Chinese government’s website, as more than a million people were evacuated from their homes.
Torrential rain was forecast through Monday across Zhejiang, Shanghai, northern Fujian, northeastern Jiangxi, central and southern Anhui, and much of Jiangsu. Parts of central and eastern Zhejiang could receive 250-500mm (9.8-19.7 inches) of rain, according to forecasters.
Shanghai’s two airports cancelled a total of 943 flights due to the typhoon, reducing capacity by nearly 40 percent, state broadcaster CCTV said.
China Eastern Airlines said on Monday it was trying to resume flights to Shanghai, Zhejiang and other destinations in an “orderly manner.”
Public transport services, including many local trains, however, remained suspended in Shanghai, where many streets in were flooded, including in the main commercial centres. Authorities urged residents to work from home and avoid going outside where possible.
Some eastern Chinese cities, however, started to restore transportation services.
Zhejiang’s Ningbo international airport resumed flight operations from midday (0400 GMT) but warned that some journeys may still be delayed or cancelled since the effects of the typhoon have “not yet completely dissipated”.
Provincial capital Hangzhou resumed subway services on Monday morning, after halting some train operations on Sunday.
Search and rescue crews in Wenling, a city in Zhejiang, were searching for a nine-year-old boy who was swept into the sea during the storm, local media said.
“I’ve lived in Shanghai for 10 years, and this is the first time I’ve experienced such inconvenience from a typhoon,” 39-year-old Hou Lina, who works in sales in Shanghai, told the Reuters news agency.
More than 900,000 residents were relocated in the city of Wenzhou alone, with nearly 100,000 evacuated in Shanghai and another 99,000 in neighbouring Fujian province, state media reported.
More than 1,500 emergency shelters were opened in Wenzhou, it added.
The strongest typhoon to hit China this year, Dolphin is forecast to move deeper inland to the central provinces of Hubei and Henan in the coming days while also pushing moisture north.
Authorities in the capital Beijing raised warnings for torrential rain and said the city was prepared to activate its flood control response on Tuesday morning.
Beijing is expected to experience “significant rainfall” from Tuesday until Thursday, with authorities warning of the risk of flash floods in the city and landslides in the surrounding mountainous areas.