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Chinese authorities moved more than one million residents to safety in eastern provinces as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall on August 10, 2026, the strongest storm to strike the country this year. Provincial governments in Zhejiang relocated 900,000 people in Wenzhou and another 390,000 in Taizhou while Shanghai shifted more than 30,000 from vulnerable zones and Fujian evacuated nearly 99,000 from high-risk coastal areas according to Xinhua News Agency reports. The National Meteorological Center had issued the highest-level red alert as the system approached with a massive circulation capable of delivering intense rainfall after traveling more than 6,000 kilometres from its formation.
Dolphin first struck Yuhuan in Zhejiang province on Sunday evening local time with sustained winds near 150 kilometres per hour before a second landfall nearby in Wenzhou roughly one hour later state media detailed. The storm had earlier lashed the Philippines where eight people died from related monsoon flooding according to the national civil defence office there and caused non-life-threatening injuries to five elderly residents in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture from falls amid strong gusts. Northern Taiwan also experienced heavy rains from the system prior to its arrival on the Chinese mainland the sequence of impacts confirmed by regional weather agencies.
Nearly 1,500 flights were cancelled at Shanghai airports on Monday with additional disruptions at Hangzhou and other regional hubs as authorities halted ferry services and suspended offshore construction projects in Fujian the Civil Aviation Administration figures showed. Parts of Zhejiang could see 250 to 500 millimetres of rain over several days with the broader forecast covering Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces through Wednesday according to the National Meteorological Center. Footage from Shanghai showed flooded streets in the former French Concession and emergency teams working to clear water while top attractions including sections of Disneyland, Legoland and the Bund viewing platforms remained closed.
Local governments opened more than 1,000 emergency shelters in Wenzhou alone and waived parking fees in Hangzhou to allow drivers to seek refuge from the winds and flooding Zhejiang and municipal authorities announced. The measures formed part of a coordinated response that included urging residents to stay indoors and suspending port operations along the affected coastline the provincial emergency management offices reported. Two people were detained for spreading misinformation including an AI-generated video and altered storm footage as the information crackdown accompanied the physical precautions according to police statements carried by state outlets.
A Tropical Storm Risk forecast issued in May projected an above-average 2026 Northwest Pacific typhoon season with 27 named storms and 18 typhoons driven by anticipated strong El Niño conditions that shift tracks toward eastern China the TSR assessment found. Dolphin marked the fourth typhoon landfall in China this year following earlier systems that similarly triggered large-scale evacuations the China Meteorological Administration tallies indicated. Typhoon Bavi in July prompted the relocation of more than 1.7 million people in the same eastern region according to contemporaneous Xinhua reports highlighting a pattern of intensive preparedness.
One nine-year-old boy remained missing in Wenling, Zhejiang after being swept into the sea but no fatalities had been reported inside China as of Monday evening local authorities stated. The storm’s longevity more than three times that of an average typhoon underscored the unusual atmospheric patterns this season the meteorological analysis noted. Emergency teams continued monitoring for landslides and further flooding as the system tracked northward through inland provinces.
