Flight cancellations, evacuations as China braces for Typhoon Dolphin

More than 1,600 flights have been cancelled and about 500,000 people have been evacuated, as Typhoon Dolphin is set to make landfall on China’s eastern coast overnight on Sunday.

The country’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a red typhoon alert, its severest warning, on Sunday morning.

Authorities are preparing for floods and landslides, as the typhoon is set to bring intense rain and powerful winds to the densely populated eastern coastal regions.

Shanghai’s Hongqiao and Pudong airports cancelled nearly 1,400 flights on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Airlines cancelled 270 inbound and outbound flights at Hangzhou’s airport, in neighbouring Zhejiang province, the report said.

On Saturday evening, authorities in Zhejiang evacuated about 390,000 people in the city of Taizhou, while authorities in Shanghai relocated more than 30,000 people from riskier areas.

In Fujian province, approximately 99,000 people had been relocated from “risky areas” on Saturday evening in advance of the storm’s landfall, state news agency Xinhua said.

Services on more than 200 ferry routes were suspended in Zhejiang and Fujian, Xinhua reported.