Chinese authorities have evacuated more than one million people from their homes across eastern China. This includes the financial capital Shanghai, after Typhoon Dolphin made landfall on Sunday evening as the most powerful storm to strike the country in 2026.
Dolphin slammed into Yuhuan in Zhejiang province at 17:30 local time with maximum wind speeds of 150 kilometres per hour before making a second landfall in Wenzhou approximately one hour later. Authorities have since downgraded the storm to a tropical storm, but warnings of torrential rain, severe flooding, and landslide risk remain in place through Wednesday as the system moves northward.
The scale of disruption across the region has been significant. Nearly 1,000 flights were cancelled in Shanghai alone on Monday. Several major tourist attractions closed, including parts of Disneyland and Legoland, as well as viewing platforms along the Bund.
Footage from state media showed ground-floor businesses flooded in Shanghai’s former French Concession, with residents wading through ankle-deep water. Heavy rain was forecast across the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang.
The evacuation numbers tell the story of the response. Wenzhou authorities relocated around 900,000 residents and opened more than 1,000 emergency shelters. A further 390,000 people were evacuated from Taizhou. In Fujian province, maritime authorities suspended dozens of passenger ferry routes. Also halting more than 100 offshore construction projects. Hangzhou waived parking fees across all public spaces to give drivers somewhere to shelter from the wind and flooding.
Parts of Zhejiang could receive between 250mm and 500mm of rainfall over the coming days. A nine-year-old boy from Wenling is missing after being swept into the sea. Chinese officials have not confirmed any other casualties.
The storm’s unusual characteristics have drawn attention from meteorologists. Dolphin travelled more than 6,000 kilometres before making landfall, giving it a lifespan more than three times longer than an average typhoon. China’s state broadcaster CCTV described it as having a massive circulation size and exceptional rainfall capacity.
Initial Misinformation
Misinformation spread rapidly online as the storm arrived. Authorities detained two people for distributing false content. One, a 60-year-old man, used artificial intelligence to create a fake video falsely claiming someone had fallen from a building in Shanghai during the storm.
Dolphin had already caused damage across the region before reaching China. Eight people died in the Philippines due to heavy monsoon rains brought on by the typhoon. More than 7,000 Filipinos are sheltering in evacuation centres. Five elderly people suffered injuries in Japan’s Okinawa. Hong Kong recorded a temperature of 36.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday as the typhoon swept warm air across the city.
Experts say this year’s strong El Niño conditions are making typhoons in the western Pacific more intense than usual. Dolphin has been a demonstration of exactly that.
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