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Typhoon disrupts travel
Typhoon Dolphin crossed over China's coastline near Yuhuan City in Zhejiang Province at about 5:30 pm (7:30pm AEST) on Sunday, triggering more than 1,000 flight cancellations, evacuations and a top-level alert.
“Thousands of flights have been cancelled and hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated.”
China's National Meteorological Centre said the centre of the typhoon moved over the coastline near Yuhuan City at about 5:30 pm, while forecasters predicted areas could see 200–400 millimetres of rainfall over the next few days.
The storm’s maximum wind speeds near the centre were more than 150 kilometres per hour at the time it made landfall, and nearly 1,400 flights in and out of Shanghai's two main passenger airports were cancelled on Sunday.
In Zhejiang, Hangzhou's airport saw 270 inbound and outbound flights cancelled, and authorities in Zhejiang evacuated 390,000 people in the city of Taizhou on Saturday evening.
The effects reached Hong Kong, where the weather observatory posted a record high temperature of 36.9 Celsius as the typhoon pushed warm air over the city.
Evacuations and closures
More than a million people were moved to safety across eastern China by Sunday evening as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall, with Wenzhou relocating more than 900,000 people and opening more than 1,500 emergency shelters.
In neighbouring Fujian, 98,900 people were moved from high-risk areas, while in Shanghai 215,600 people were moved from areas considered at risk by Sunday evening, substantially higher than an earlier figure of 30,300.
The Guardian reported that the hashtag “Shanghai turns into the sea” began trending on Weibo as videos circulated showing streets flooded around the Wukang Mansion, one of the city’s best-known tourist landmarks.
The BBC said authorities have downgraded Dolphin to a tropical storm but continue to warn of torrential rains, severe flooding and the risk of landslides through to Wednesday as the storm moves north.
The BBC also said several top tourist attractions remain closed, including parts of Disneyland and Legoland, and several viewing platforms along the Bund in Shanghai.
What comes next
Even as Dolphin weakened rapidly to a tropical storm by 5am on Monday, authorities maintained an orange alert for heavy rain and warned that days of intense rain could trigger widespread flooding and landslides through Wednesday.
“Authorities maintained an orange alert for heavy rain and warned that days of intense rain could trigger widespread flooding and landslides through Wednesday”
Forecasters in China predicted some areas could see 200-400mm of rainfall over the coming days, and the storm forced Shanghai’s two airports to cancel more than 1,300 flights.
Public transport services, including many local trains, were suspended in the financial hub, and Zhejiang’s Ningbo international airport, about 150km south of Shanghai, was set to resume flight operations from midday (0400 GMT) on Monday.
In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Observatory said the storm’s outer subsiding air would persistently bring extremely hot weather to the territory today to Tuesday, after the city recorded a record high temperature of 36.9C on Sunday.
The BBC added that governments have urged people to avoid outdoor activities, while state media reported that a nine-year-old boy from Wenling, Zhejiang is missing after being swept into the sea.
