Typhoon Dolphin Batters Zhejiang, Rescue Operations Underway

Typhoon Dolphin, the 13th named storm of the 2026 Pacific typhoon season, made two landfalls on the coast of Zhejiang Province on the evening of August 9, triggering emergency rescue and repair operations across multiple areas as authorities worked to protect residents and restore essential services. The storm forced the evacuation of more than one million people and caused widespread disruption across eastern China, according to Xinhua News.

An Unprecedented Storm

The typhoon first struck at approximately 17:30 local time at Kanmen Street, Yuhuan City, Taizhou, with maximum wind speeds of 14 levels (42 m/s), followed by a second landfall at approximately 18:40 at Wengyang Street, Yueqing City, Wenzhou, with winds of 13 levels (38 m/s). According to Interface News, Dolphin became the most easterly-forming and longest-traveling typhoon to make landfall in China since records began in 1951, having traveled over 6,000 kilometers before landfall—approximately three times the average typhoon lifespan.

The storm, whose name refers to the Chinese white dolphin that lives in Hong Kong waters, formed near the International Date Line in the central Pacific on July 27 and reached super typhoon status with peak winds of 280 km/h. It weakened significantly before landfall but still packed destructive force.

Emergency Response in Zhejiang

Zhejiang Province raised its typhoon emergency response to Level I—the highest level—at 20:00 on August 8, one day before landfall. Wenzhou authorities evacuated approximately 900,000 residents and opened more than 1,000 emergency shelters, while Taizhou evacuated approximately 390,000 people, as BBC News reported.

Severe waterlogging occurred in Chagang Village, Qinggang Town, Yuhuan, Taizhou, where roads were blocked and villagers trapped. Rescue teams used rubber boats to evacuate stranded residents. State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power deployed more than 1,900 repair personnel and 40 power generation vehicles from Hangzhou, Jinhua, and Jiaxing to assist the hardest-hit areas, with a total of over 30,000 repair personnel and 470 power generation vehicles deployed nationwide, according to the Chinese government website.

Zhejiang Provincial Party Secretary Wang Hao personally supervised typhoon prevention work in coastal and key mountainous counties, emphasizing the need to “firmly hold the three bottom lines of ‘no major river or reservoir breaches, no large-scale urban flooding, and no mass casualties.’”

Widespread Regional Disruption

The typhoon’s impact extended far beyond Zhejiang. In Shanghai, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled on August 10, and the city issued its first red rainstorm warning since 2013. The Xujiahui weather station recorded 316.1mm of rain from August 9-10, breaking the single-day rainfall record since the station was established in 1872. Shanghai Disneyland and Disney Town were closed, and multiple metro lines suspended or speed-restricted operations.

In Jiangsu, 17 meteorological stations in Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou recorded precipitation exceeding 100mm in three hours on August 10. The Sutong Bridge and Husutong Bridge were closed to vehicles, and all shipping on the Yangtze River in Jiangsu was suspended. Anhui set up more than 10,000 centralized resettlement points, and the Huangshan and Jiuhuashan scenic areas were closed. Fujian suspended 40 passenger ferry routes and halted all 115 offshore construction projects, as Guangzhou Daily reported.

National Coordination and Relief Efforts

The National Flood Control Headquarters activated emergency responses across multiple provinces, coordinating efforts through the “12 measures” for typhoon prevention. The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Emergency Management allocated 120 million yuan in emergency disaster relief funds for Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, and Jiangxi, while the National Development and Reform Commission allocated 200 million yuan in central budget investment for Zhejiang disaster recovery, according to Shandong Flash News/CCTV.

Railway services began resuming on the Hangzhou-Shenzhen Railway and Hangzhou-Taizhou High-Speed Railway on August 10 as the typhoon weakened to tropical storm level. The Central Meteorological Observatory warned that the typhoon’s residual circulation could combine with a northern cold vortex, bringing rainfall to North China, the Shandong Peninsula, and even Northeast China, making the flood prevention situation “severe and complex.”

International Impact

The storm’s destructive path extended across the region. In Japan, seven injuries were reported in Okinawa, with over 1.3 million households losing power and 691 flights cancelled affecting 105,000 passengers. In the Philippines, the typhoon combined with the southwest monsoon to cause 13 deaths and 14 injuries, affecting over 750,000 people, as The New York Times reported.

Taiwan recorded 632 disaster incidents and issued a sea typhoon warning—the most easterly formation for a typhoon warning since 1958. Hong Kong experienced its highest recorded temperature of 36.9°C on August 9, breaking the 2017 record, as the typhoon’s outer subsidence brought extreme heat to southern China.

Looking Ahead

The immediate priority remains restoring essential services and ensuring the safety of affected residents. Insurance companies have begun processing typhoon disaster claims, and recovery efforts are underway across the affected provinces. However, meteorologists warn that heavy rain will continue in multiple provinces through August 12, with elevated risks of mountain floods, geological disasters, and flooding of small and medium-sized rivers.

Zhejiang’s experience with Typhoon Bavi, which made two landfalls in the province in July along a nearly identical path, has proven valuable in preparing for Dolphin’s impact. The province’s extensive typhoon preparedness systems—including early evacuation protocols, emergency shelter networks, and coordinated multi-agency response—helped minimize casualties despite the storm’s unprecedented characteristics.

As the 2026 Pacific typhoon season continues amid a strong El Niño year, experts indicate that typhoons may develop more intensely. The response to Typhoon Dolphin will serve as a critical case study in disaster preparedness for the region.