More than 1,300 flights were canceled at Shanghai’s two major airports as Chinese authorities relocated hundreds of thousands of residents to safer areas ahead of Typhoon Dolphin.
The storm had already brought heavy rainfall to northern Taiwan, with its outer bands affecting areas including the capital, Taipei, on Saturday. Several Taiwanese airlines also canceled flights bound for China scheduled for Sunday.
By Sunday morning, Dolphin was carrying maximum sustained winds of around 162 kilometers per hour. The storm was expected to bring intense rainfall capable of triggering flooding and landslides, with forecasters projecting landfall late Sunday in Zhejiang province and northern parts of neighboring Fujian province.
Chinese weather authorities warned that rainfall totals in some areas could reach between 200 and 400 millimeters over the next several days. Zhejiang officials also raised warnings over the heightened threat of landslides.
In Shanghai, roughly 60 percent of the flights scheduled at both Hongqiao and Pudong airports were canceled for Sunday, according to The Paper, a state-run media outlet based in the city.
Authorities in Zhejiang’s Taizhou city moved around 390,000 residents to safer locations on Saturday evening as the typhoon approached.
Shanghai also evacuated more than 30,000 people from areas considered particularly vulnerable to the storm.
Meanwhile, Zhejiang authorities suspended water-related activities across the province, including ferry operations and cruise services, as preparations intensified for the typhoon’s arrival.