Typhoon Dolphin nears China's east coast, over a thousand flights cancelled
Typhoon Dolphin is approaching China's densely populated eastern coast, triggering mass flight cancellations, evacuations and a top-level alert, after earlier battering Japan's Okinawa and Taiwan.
China's densely populated eastern coast was bracing on Sunday for Typhoon Dolphin, which has already forced more than 1,000 flight cancellations and prompted evacuations. Nearly 1,400 flights were cancelled at Shanghai's two main airports on Sunday, according to state broadcaster CCTV, while Hangzhou airport in neighbouring Zhejiang province saw 270 flights scrapped.
The storm is expected to make landfall in Zhejiang or Fujian province late Sunday or early Monday. It had previously lashed Japan's Okinawa with heavy rain and strong winds, injuring seven people, including a man over 100 who was knocked down and hit his head by gusts. Around 5,290 households in Okinawa remained without power by Sunday afternoon.
In Taiwan, dozens of ferry services were suspended and more than 180 flights cancelled as the storm brought heavy rain and wind to the island's north.
China issues highest-level alert
China's National Meteorological Centre issued a red alert, its most severe typhoon warning, on Sunday morning, forecasting extraordinary torrential rain in central and eastern Zhejiang. Heavy rainfall is also expected in Shanghai and parts of Fujian, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces through Monday afternoon. After landfall, the storm is expected to weaken as it moves northwest across eastern China.
In Fujian, nearly 99,000 people were relocated from risk-prone areas by Saturday evening. More than 200 ferry routes across Zhejiang and Fujian were suspended, along with some train services. Offshore construction work was halted, with 474 vessels called back to port.
Dolphin is the second major typhoon to hit China within two weeks, following Typhoon Noul, which struck Guangdong province and was described at the time as the strongest storm to hit China this year. Noul had earlier killed three people and damaged hundreds of homes in the Philippines before reaching China.
