A Huge Storm Called Typhoon Dolphin Hit China — Here's What Happened

A powerful storm called Typhoon Dolphin hit the coast of eastern China on Sunday, August 9, 2026, at about 5:30pm local time, with winds reaching 150 km/h (93 mph), according to China's weather authorities Al Jazeera. A typhoon is a giant, spinning storm that forms over warm ocean water — it is the same kind of storm as a hurricane, just with a different name depending on where it happens. This one made landfall, meaning it moved from the sea onto land, in a city called Yuhuan in Zhejiang province.

The storm forced more than one million people to leave their homes for safety across eastern China. In Shanghai, China's largest city, about 40 percent of flights were cancelled and roughly 1,400 services were called off on Monday, August 10.

After hitting land, Dolphin started to weaken. By the evening of August 10, China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) — the country's main weather agency — reported that the storm had moved inland to Jiangxi province and was traveling northwest at 15–20 km/h. Wang Haiping, the NMC's chief forecaster, said Dolphin would keep moving west, then slow down over central and southwestern China before fading away.

The evacuation happened over several days before the storm arrived. In the city of Wenzhou, more than 900,000 people were moved to safety and over 1,000 emergency shelters were opened. In Taizhou, close to where the storm hit land, about 390,000 people left their homes. Shanghai evacuated at least 30,300 people. In the neighboring province of Fujian, about 98,900 people were moved from dangerous areas after officials raised the typhoon emergency response to Level III, as reported by Xinhua. Zhejiang province had already raised its emergency response to Level I — the highest level — on Saturday night, August 8 Reuters. Think of these levels like a fire alarm: Level I means the danger is extreme and everyone needs to act right away.

The storm hit Shanghai hard enough that people started posting about it online. On Weibo, a popular Chinese social media site, residents used the hashtag "Shanghai turns into the sea" to describe how flooded the city had become. Parts of Disneyland and Legoland were closed, and viewing platforms along the Bund — Shanghai's famous waterfront area — were shut down. In Hangzhou, another major city, officials waived parking fees so people could leave their cars behind and find shelter.

The danger went beyond strong winds. Weather forecasters warned that some areas could get between 250 and 500mm (10 to 20 inches) of rain. That is roughly the amount of rain some places would normally get over several months, falling in just a day or two. Heavy rain was expected across Zhejiang, Shanghai, northern Fujian, northeastern Jiangxi, central and southern Anhui, and much of Jiangsu. China's Ministry of Water Resources warned that four rivers — the Qiantang, Yong, Jiao, and Shuiyang — could overflow. Reuters also reported heightened flood risks for smaller rivers in areas of heavy rainfall Reuters. Officials also warned of landslides and sudden flood surges in mountainous parts of Zhejiang, putting those areas under a red warning, which is the most serious alert level.

The government's response was wide-ranging. Workers at sea were ordered back to shore, and boats were called into port. Officials increased inspections at dams, mountain streams, areas prone to landslides, construction sites, and tourist spots. The NMC's forecast at 10:00 on August 10 predicted heavy rain would spread beyond eastern China into the Huang-Huai region and North China.

Dolphin arrived about a month after another storm, Typhoon Bavi, hit the same province in July 2026. That earlier storm had forced 1.7 million people to evacuate. Two major storms hitting the same area within weeks puts extra pressure on the region's disaster-response systems. Flood defenses that were damaged or strained by the first storm have not had time to fully recover. Zhejiang's decision to activate its highest emergency level on August 8 showed that officials were aiming to move quickly and get people to safety before the storm hit, rather than waiting to react.

The broader context is that China's eastern coast — home to some of the country's biggest and wealthiest cities — gets hit by typhoons regularly. Weather agencies have been tracking these storms with more detail and precision in recent years. The NMC first flagged Dolphin's approach on August 3, when its chief meteorologist predicted the storm would enter the East China Sea around August 7 and noted several possible paths it could take. By August 7, the agency said Dolphin was about to hit the coast. The fact that the storm actually arrived within the predicted time window will likely be reviewed by agencies checking how accurate their forecasts were, though judging accuracy based on a single event is not very reliable.

What makes Dolphin especially concerning is how much rain it is expected to dump on inland areas. The 250–500mm of rain forecast for parts of Zhejiang, combined with the storm slowing down over central and southwestern China, means flooding could continue long after the winds die down. Rivers that were already swollen from Typhoon Bavi in July are now absorbing a second round of heavy rainfall within weeks. The Qiantang, Yong, Jiao, and Shuiyang river areas are the most important places to watch in the coming days, as the storm's remains keep dropping water on hilly terrain where sudden floods and landslides are a real danger.