More than a million people were evacuated from their homes in the east Kini, including Shanghai, after being strong typhoon Dolphin hit land and brought heavy rainfall, flooding and major traffic problems.
Nearly 1.000 flights were canceled in Shanghai on Monday due to the storm, while authorities across the region warned citizens to avoid being outdoors. Although the typhoon has since been weakened and declared a tropical storm, meteorologists are still warning of extremely heavy rainfall, the possibility of large floods and landslides until Wednesday.
Chinese authorities previously issued the highest level of warning, a red alert, for the typhoon, rating Dolphin as the strongest storm to hit China this year.
At the time of the typhoon's first landfall, near the city of Yuhuan in Zhejiang Province, it had a maximum wind speed of about 150 kilometers per hour. The first impact occurred on Sunday around 17:30 local time, and just an hour later the Dolphin made landfall again, this time near the city of Wenzhou.
Heavy rainfall on Monday is forecast for Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, as well as the Shanghai area.
Streets of Shanghai under water
Footage released by Chinese state media shows flooded ground-floor bars in the former French Concession in Shanghai, one of the city's most popular tourist areas. On some streets, citizens walked through water that reached their ankles.
Authorities appealed to residents to postpone outdoor activities, while many tourist spots were temporarily closed. Among them are some parts of Disneyland and Legoland.
Between 250 and 500 millimeters of rain is expected in Zhejiang province over the next few days, further increasing the risk of floods and landslides.
In the provincial capital, Hangzhou, authorities have waived parking fees at all public car parks to allow motorists to escape strong winds and floodwaters.
The largest evacuations were carried out in the coastal areas of Zhejiang. In Wenzhou, about 900.000 people were evacuated from their homes, while in Taizhou, about 390.000 residents were evacuated. More than 1.000 temporary shelters have been opened.
In the neighboring Fujian province, a large number of ferry lines have been suspended, while more than 100 offshore construction projects have also been suspended.
Boy missing at sea
Chinese state media reported that a nine-year-old boy from the city of Wenling in Zhejiang was missing after he was reportedly swept into the sea. There is no official information about other victims for now.
The dolphin traveled about 6.000 kilometers before reaching the Chinese coast. China's state broadcaster CCTV said this caused the storm to last more than three times longer than the average typhoon. The storm was characterized by extremely high air circulation and a strong potential for creating heavy precipitation.
The storm previously hit the Philippines, parts of northern Taiwan and the Japanese island of Okinawa.
In the Philippines, at least eight people have died as a result of heavy monsoon rains associated with Delfina and storms that hit the country earlier in the week, according to the Office of Civil Defense there. More than 7.000 people are currently in evacuation centers.
In Okinawa, five elderly people suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Three of them fell due to strong gusts of wind.
A record high temperature of 36,9 degrees was measured in Hong Kong on Sunday. The typhoon brought warmer air to the city area.
Arrests for fake footage
The storm also caused the spread of misinformation on Chinese social networks. The state media stated that two people were detained for publishing such content.
One of them, a 60-year-old man, allegedly created a fake video with the help of artificial intelligence in which he claimed that a person fell from a building in Shanghai during a storm.
Another detained man, aged 32, used footage of the storm previously posted by other social media users, but edited it in a way authorities deemed misleading.
Typhoon season in the western Pacific generally runs from May to October, when such storms are most common. Experts warn that this year, due to the strong influence of the El Niño phenomenon, typhoons could be more intense.
Source: BBC
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