Flight cancellations, evacuations as China braces for Typhoon Dolphin

The country’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a red typhoon alert, its severest warning, on Sunday morning.

Authorities are preparing for floods and landslides, as the typhoon is set to bring intense rain and powerful winds to the densely populated eastern coastal regions.

Shanghai’s Hongqiao and Pudong airports cancelled nearly 1,400 flights on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Airlines cancelled 270 inbound and outbound flights at Hangzhou’s airport, in neighbouring Zhejiang province, the report said.

On Saturday evening, authorities in Zhejiang evacuated about 390,000 people in the city of Taizhou, while authorities in Shanghai relocated more than 30,000 people from riskier areas.

In Fujian province, approximately 99,000 people had been relocated from “risky areas” on Saturday evening in advance of the storm’s landfall, state news agency Xinhua said.

Services on more than 200 ferry routes were suspended in Zhejiang and Fujian, Xinhua reported.

The NMC forecast “extraordinary torrential rain” in some areas of central and eastern Zhejiang, bringing 250mm to 500mm (9.8-19.9 inches) of rainfall.

Torrential rain is also expected through Monday across Shanghai, northern Fujian, northeastern Jiangxi, central and southern Anhui, and much of Jiangsu, the weather service said.

The typhoon is set to arrive in China overnight on Sunday and into Monday with sustained winds of up to 162km/h (101mph) before weakening and moving inland, the NMC said.

The outer bands of the storm had also hit northern Taiwan, including the capital, Taipei, since Saturday. Dozens of ferry services were suspended, and more than 180 flights were cancelled as the storm brought downpours and strong winds to the island’s north on Sunday.

Dolphin swept through Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture over the weekend, injuring seven people and cutting power to more than 50,000 buildings.

The typhoon cut off the electricity for 5,290 households in Okinawa by Sunday afternoon, Okinawa Electric Power Company reported.