Typhoon Dolphin Hits Zhejiang Twice, 1,300 Flights Canceled

A pedestrian walks through the rain in Shanghai as Typhoon Dolphin brings bad weather to eastern China. Photo: WANG XIANG/XINHUA via China Daily.

JAKARTA - Typhoon Dolphin hit Zhejiang Province, eastern China, twice on Sunday night. The storm brought strong winds, high waves, and heavy rain and forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate from at-risk areas.

China Daily, quoted on Monday, August 10, reported that Dolphin was the 13th typhoon this year. The typhoon first landed in Kanmen, Yuhuan, Taizhou, at around 17.30 local time.

On its first landing, the maximum sustained wind speed at the center of the typhoon exceeded 150 kilometers per hour, according to China's National Meteorological Center.

About 70 minutes later, the Dolphin landed again in Yueqing, Zhejiang.

The typhoon is expected to weaken after moving inland and continuing north.

Ahead of his arrival, Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Ningbo activated Level I emergency response, the highest level in China's four-level system. Hangzhou activated Level II.

In Taizhou, all 3,815 fishing boats have taken refuge in safe waters. Work on 29 coastal projects has also been halted.

Wenzhou suspended school activities, work, production, transportation, and business activities throughout the city.

The National Meteorological Center issued a red typhoon warning on Sunday morning. This is the highest level of warning and is the second this year after Typhoon Noul in late July.

Dolphins also disrupted travel in the Yangtze River Delta region. More than 1,000 flights were canceled on Sunday, while a number of train and ferry services were suspended.

Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport canceled 388 flights. Meanwhile, Pudong and Hongqiao airports in Shanghai canceled more than 1,300 flights or almost 60 percent of the schedule.

Evacuations were carried out in a number of vulnerable areas. On Saturday night, about 390,000 people in Taizhou had been moved to safety. In Shanghai, more than 30,000 people were evacuated from at-risk areas.

In Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, 231 construction workers were temporarily housed at Jinshan Junior High School until Sunday afternoon.

Dong Lin, the main practitioner of the National Meteorological Center, said the Dolphin circulation stretched about 1,300 kilometers. This condition makes the wind and rain impact reach a wide area and last a long time.

As of Monday, heavy rain is expected to fall in the southern areas of the Yellow and Huaihe Rivers, including parts of Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Henan, and Shandong.

Starting Tuesday, the rain belt is expected to move north as the rest of the Dolphin circulation moves further inland.

The Beijing Meteorological Agency predicts that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will experience heavy rain from Monday evening to Friday.