Typhoon Dolphin Prompts Shanghai to Cancel 1,300 Flights Amid Mass Evacuations in China

Typhoon Dolphin is charging toward China’s eastern coast, and it’s already causing chaos. In Shanghai, more than 1,300 flights have been canceled, and authorities are working fast to move hundreds of thousands of people out of harm’s way.

Over the weekend, the storm’s outer bands slammed northern Taiwan—Taipei got drenched, flights got canceled, and things got messy. Early Sunday, Dolphin’s winds hit about 162 km/h (101 mph), strong enough to do real damage, just like a Category 2 hurricane.

Forecasters expect Dolphin to make landfall late Sunday or early Monday, right near the border between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. Officials call this spot the “dangerous semicircle,” because that’s where the wind and rain really unleash. China’s national weather agency put out its highest typhoon alert and warned about “extraordinary” rainfall—anywhere from 200 to 500 millimeters could fall in eastern Zhejiang. Flooding and landslides? The risk is high.

Shanghai’s two main airports, Pudong and Hongqiao, have canceled about 60% of Sunday’s scheduled flights. Hangzhou’s airport also grounded hundreds of flights. In Taizhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang, officials evacuated close to 390,000 people on Saturday night. Shanghai moved over 30,000 more folks out of vulnerable areas, and Fujian province has cleared almost 100,000 people from danger.

On top of that, ferry and cruise services got suspended across Zhejiang and Fujian. Offshore workers and fishing boats were ordered to return, and officials ramped up checks on reservoirs, mountain streams, and construction sites. Hundreds of smaller boats found shelter at Shanghai’s Yangshan port.

Dolphin didn’t just form out of nowhere. It swept through Japan’s Okinawa prefecture earlier, hurting several people and knocking out power for tens of thousands. Once the storm hits China, it’s expected to lose strength as it moves inland, but the heavy rain could hang around for days.