Typhoon Dolphin, the most powerful storm to strike China this year, has forced authorities to evacuate more than one million residents as it tore through the eastern coast. The storm, which packed maximum wind speeds of 94 mph, made landfall in Zhejiang province before moving toward the financial hub of Shanghai.
The impact on regional infrastructure was immediate and severe, with nearly 1,000 flights grounded in Shanghai alone on Monday and numerous ferry routes and construction projects suspended in Fujian.
While the storm has been downgraded to a tropical storm, officials remain on high alert for landslides and catastrophic flooding, with some areas bracing for up to 500mm of rainfall.
State media reports indicate that a nine-year-old boy is missing after being swept into the sea in Zhejiang, and authorities have already moved to suppress online discourse, detaining two individuals for allegedly spreading misinformation about the storm's impact.
Before reaching the Chinese mainland, the storm caused significant destruction in the Philippines, where eight deaths have been reported, and left several injured in Okinawa, Japan. As the region grapples with the aftermath, the massive scale of the storm serves as a stark reminder of the volatile weather patterns currently affecting the western Pacific.
Tags
