Typhoon Dolphin struck eastern China on Sunday evening, forcing authorities to relocate over one million residents across regions including Shanghai. The storm first hit Yuhuan in Zhejiang province with wind speeds reaching 150km/h at 17:30 local time, followed by a second landfall in Wenzhou an hour later.
Transportation was severely impacted, resulting in the cancellation of 1,400 flights in Shanghai alone. While the initial red alert has been downgraded to a tropical storm, officials continue to warn of potential flooding, landslides, and heavy rainfall across Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces through Wednesday.
Local governments have closed major tourist sites, such as sections of Disneyland and Legoland, while urging residents to stay indoors. Reports indicate flooding in parts of Shanghai, including the former French Concession. While no official death toll has been confirmed, a nine-year-old boy in Wenling is reported missing after being swept into the sea.
In response to the emergency, Hangzhou officials have waived parking fees, and Wenzhou authorities have opened over 1,000 shelters to accommodate hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The storm, which exhibited an unusually long lifespan and size, previously caused eight deaths in the Philippines and injuries in Okinawa, Japan, before moving toward China.
Authorities have also taken action against the spread of misinformation regarding the disaster, detaining two individuals for distributing misleading or AI-generated footage of the storm’s impact.
