Typhoon Dolphin Batters Japan, China Braces for Landfall

AI FEED

Typhoon Dolphin injured six people in Japan’s Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures.
More than 50,000 buildings were without power across the affected Japanese regions.
China issued an orange typhoon alert ahead of the storm’s expected landfall.

Typhoon Dolphin battered Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture on Saturday, bringing powerful winds and heavy rain that injured six people and disrupted electricity supplies to more than 50,000 buildings.

The storm also triggered preparations across eastern China, where authorities are bracing for a possible landfall between late Sunday and early Monday.

Six Injured as Typhoon Hits Japan

Five elderly people in Okinawa suffered non-life-threatening injuries, including three who fell because of the powerful winds. Another person was injured in Kagoshima prefecture, authorities said.

Nearly 39,000 buildings in Kagoshima and more than 12,000 in Okinawa were without electricity.

Major airlines, including ANA and Japan Airlines, cancelled flights to and from Okinawa as the storm disrupted transport services.

Typhoon Dolphin was reported to have maximum sustained winds of 162 kmph, with gusts reaching 216 kmph.

China Raises Typhoon Alert Ahead of Landfall

China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued an orange typhoon alert, the second-highest level in the country’s four-tier warning system.

The storm is expected to make landfall along China’s east coast between Zhoushan in Zhejiang province and Fuding in Fujian province.

The areas of Zhejiang and Shanghai are expected to fall within the storm’s dangerous semicircle, where stronger winds and heavier rainfall are forecast.

Authorities have raised emergency response levels because of the risks of flooding and landslides.

Heavy Rain and Transport Disruptions

Forecasters warned that eastern China could experience heavy rain and strong winds through August 12.

Some parts of eastern Zhejiang could receive more than 600 mm of rainfall.

Authorities have already taken precautionary measures:

Zhejiang halted port operations.
Fishing boats were ordered back to port.
Ferry services were suspended in several areas.
Some construction work was stopped.
Flights were cancelled at several airports.
Rail services across parts of the Yangtze River Delta face suspension.

Ningbo Lishe International Airport announced that flights would be suspended on Sunday, while Shanghai’s Yangshan port was cleared of vessels.

Taiwan Cancels Flights as Storm Approaches

Taiwan also faced disruptions from Typhoon Dolphin, with 78 flights cancelled, mostly international services.

Heavy rainfall was expected across northern parts of the island. As of Saturday, authorities had not ordered evacuations.

China also instructed vessels travelling through the Taiwan Strait to follow its traffic-control measures because of the approaching typhoon. Taiwan criticised the move, arguing that Beijing does not have authority to restrict access to international waters.

As of Saturday afternoon, Typhoon Dolphin was located over the southern East China Sea, around 475 km east of Wenzhou in Zhejiang, according to China’s NMC.