More than one million people in eastern China were evacuated as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall on Sunday, Aug. 9 [1].
The scale of the displacement reflects the storm's potential to disrupt one of the world's most densely populated industrial hubs. Severe weather in these regions often threatens critical infrastructure and global supply chains.
The storm struck the eastern coast, primarily impacting Shanghai and Zhejiang province [1, 4]. In Wenzhou, located within Zhejiang province, officials said they relocated more than 900,000 residents to safety [4]. The overall evacuation effort across the affected regions exceeded 1,000,000 people [1].
Typhoon Dolphin brought extreme conditions to the coast, including wind gusts that reached 94 miles per hour [3, 5]. These winds, combined with record rainfall, triggered severe flooding and landslides across the region [1, 5].
Transportation networks faced significant disruptions as the storm approached. In Shanghai, authorities said they cancelled 1,300 flights to prevent aircraft from being caught in the severe weather [2].
Emergency services managed rescue operations as heavy rain continued to fall on Sunday. Local officials said they coordinated the movement of citizens from low-lying areas to shelters to avoid the rising floodwaters [1, 4].
“More than one million people in eastern China were evacuated as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall.”
The massive evacuation in Zhejiang and Shanghai underscores the vulnerability of China's coastal economic centers to intensifying tropical cyclones. By relocating over a million people, authorities aimed to minimize casualties, but the resulting landslides and flight cancellations highlight the recurring challenge of maintaining urban stability during the peak typhoon season.
