Typhoon Shadel Makes Double Landfall in Zhejiang

Typhoon Shadel made landfall twice along the coast of Zhejiang Province on Friday morning, striking the eastern Chinese province with winds of up to 35 meters per second and triggering the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents. The storm, the 18th named system of the 2026 Pacific typhoon season, first came ashore at Kamen Street in Yuhuan City at 8:05 AM, followed by a second landfall at Longwan District in Wenzhou about an hour later, according to Xinhua News.

A Record-Breaking Year for Zhejiang

Shadel’s arrival marked the third typhoon to make landfall in Zhejiang within 50 days, following Typhoon Bavi in July and Typhoon Baidolphin in early August. Remarkably, all three storms struck the same location in Yuhuan—a first in the province’s recorded history. Mao Yanjun, a senior engineer at the Zhejiang Provincial Climate Center, told Jiemian News that three typhoons making first landfall at the same point is “truly rare,” attributing the phenomenon to Yuhuan’s geography as a peninsula protruding into the East China Sea.

The unusual clustering is linked to this year’s El Nino conditions, which have intensified the subtropical high—the primary steering system for typhoon movement. Lv Xinyan, chief forecaster at the Central Meteorological Observatory, explained that under the subtropical high’s guidance, most typhoons this year have moved in a west-northwest direction, leading to significantly more landfalls in East China, particularly Zhejiang.

Mass Evacuations and Emergency Response

Authorities moved swiftly to protect residents as the storm approached. The Wenzhou city government ordered the evacuation of more than 820,000 people, while Taizhou evacuated over 70,000 before landfall. In neighboring Fujian Province, 247,700 people were relocated from dangerous areas on land and at sea, according to Zaobao.

All 14,682 ocean fishing vessels in Zhejiang were moved into typhoon shelters capable of withstanding winds above level 15, and all 47,983 crew members and 1,906 aquaculture workers came ashore. The central government allocated 150 million yuan in emergency disaster relief funds to support flood and typhoon response in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangxi, with an additional 100 million yuan from the National Development and Reform Commission for post-disaster recovery.

Hu Yaowen, chief engineer at the Zhejiang Provincial Emergency Management Department, warned of the dangerous “three-in-one” scenario: “Typhoon Shadel’s impact on Zhejiang coincides with the astronomical spring tide period, which may form a superposition of strong winds, huge waves, high tides, and heavy rain. Combined with previous continuous heavy rainfall and high water levels in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs across the province, the additional rainfall from this typhoon could very likely trigger mountain torrents, mudslides, and landslides.”

On the Ground in the Storm’s Path

At Dongsha Community in Yuhuan’s Kamen Street—the typhoon’s first landfall point—Party Branch Secretary Chen Yanhui had been on duty since August 26, overseeing the evacuation of 66 residents and about 200 tourists. “Looking at the typhoon path changes before, I felt uneasy in my heart,” he said. “But regardless of whether the typhoon makes landfall, we maintain reverence for nature and always implement the strictest standards for typhoon prevention.”

Residents described the storm’s ferocity. Zhang Yiyan, a resident of Luqiao District in Taizhou, said she was awakened around 5 AM by strong winds: “Lying in bed, I could feel the house shaking slightly. Outside, the wind was howling, and the windows were rattling. When I looked out the window in the morning, I saw that a neighbor’s security window grille had been blown off.”

An Unusual Post-Landfall Path

After making landfall, Shadel weakened rapidly—from a severe tropical storm by mid-morning to a tropical depression by late Friday night. The storm then moved westward through Fujian and into Jiangxi Province, where its center was located in Yongfeng County by Saturday morning.

Meteorological analysts noted that Shadel’s post-landfall path bending southwestward was unusual, caused by high pressure and cold air from the north suppressing its northward movement. China Weather Channel analyst Xin Xin suggested that after reaching Hunan or Guangxi, the storm’s ground-level low-pressure center might dissipate, but its residual low-level circulation could persist and potentially “revive” into a tropical cyclone if it enters the South China Sea.

A Season of Unprecedented Activity

The 2026 typhoon season has been extraordinarily active. By late August, 22 named storms had formed in the western Pacific and South China Sea—significantly above the long-term average—with seven making landfall in China. The three consecutive typhoons hitting Zhejiang tie the record for the most typhoons making landfall in the province in a single year since 1949.

Heavy rainfall from Shadel is expected to affect nine provinces and regions through August 31, including Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan. As the storm continues to weaken inland, authorities remain vigilant for potential flooding and geological hazards in the affected areas.

For Zhejiang’s coastal communities, the 2026 season has tested resilience like never before. As Yang Shudan, a grassroots cadre in Yueqing, put it: “Facing three typhoon landfalls in a short period, grassroots cadres have indeed experienced psychological and physical pressure, but all scientific typhoon prevention measures are necessary. The most important thing is that everyone stays united and doesn’t relax.”