Tropical storm Dolphin floods eastern China, grounds hundreds of flights
Typhoon intensifies monsoon rains in Philippines
Shanghai airports cancelled hundreds of flights on Monday as tropical storm Dolphin dumped heavy rain in eastern China, causing flooding in places after making landfall as a typhoon the previous day.
asserted
Dolphin → flood → typhoon
Shanghai's Hongqiao and Pudong airports cancelled more than 900 flights, or about 40 per cent of those expected, after about 1,300 were cancelled the day before, according to Shanghai Airport Group.
uncertain
1,300 → cancel → Group
Shanghai also suspended some of its metro lines on Monday, and China Railway Chengdu Group suspended 115 trains, state news agency Xinhua reported.
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Xinhua → suspend → trains
Authorities warned of risks of severe flooding and landslides in some areas.
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Authorities → warn → areas
State broadcaster CCTV reported that authorities in Yueqing, a city in Zhejiang province, searched for people trapped in flooded homes.
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authorities → report → homes
The China Meteorological Administration said Dolphin was moving northwest at 15 to 20 kilometres per hour and was expected to continue weakening.
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Dolphin → say → hour
Dolphin made landfall Sunday evening in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, with winds of 151 kilometres per hour, after bringing heavy rain to northern Taiwan over the weekend.
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Dolphin → make → weekend
Powerful winds and lashing rain flipped over a truck in Zhejiang's Wenzhou, a video posted on TikTok on Sunday showed.
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video → lash → Sunday
It was not clear what happened to the driver.
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what → happen → driver
Dolphin had forced at least 760,000 people to preemptively relocate, including more than 390,000 people in Taizhou.
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Dolphin → force → Taizhou
Authorities in Shanghai and Fujian province evacuated more than 210,000 and 160,000 people, respectively, from riskier areas.
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Authorities → evacuate → areas
Authorities in Zhejiang's capital city, Hangzhou, temporarily closed its iconic West Lake scenic spots as well as temples, parks and museums and will reopen on Tuesday.
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Authorities → close → Tuesday
Elsewhere, tropical storm Chan-hom was heading toward Japan's Pacific coast.
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hom → head → coast
The storm had 83 kilometre-per-hour winds Monday morning and was forecast to strengthen slightly before landfall Tuesday into Wednesday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
uncertain
storm → have → Agency
Many streets in Shanghai's suburban Jiading and Qingpu districts around the city centre remained waterlogged, according to livestreams shared by residents on social media.
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streets → remain → media
The live videos, not verified by Reuters, showed people wading through knee-high murky water.
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people → verify → water
"It rained almost all night last night.
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It → rain → ?
When I woke up this morning, I found the neighbourhood flooded, and the streets were severely flooded," said 39-year-old Hou Lina, who works in sales in Jiading in Shanghai.
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who → wake → Shanghai
"I've lived in Shanghai for 10 years, and this is the first time I've experienced such inconvenience from a typhoon.
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I → live → typhoon
This is the first time I've encountered such widespread flooding," she told Reuters.
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she → encounter → Reuters
In Shanghai's Jinshan, the district authority said non-essential businesses and organizations could temporarily halt operations, classes, outdoor events and transit services, amid forecasts of continued strong winds and heavy rain on Monday.
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businesses → say → Monday
Authorities warned that 74 rivers in the Taihu Lake basin and the coastal areas of eastern Zhejiang have exceeded warning levels, and that flood risks for small and medium-sized rivers in heavy rainfall areas are high.
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risks → warn → areas
Beijing expected to be hit with 'significant rainfall'
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Beijing → expect → rainfall
The strongest typhoon to hit China this year, Dolphin is forecast to move deeper inland to the central provinces of Hubei and Henan in the coming days while also pushing moisture north.
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Dolphin → hit → moisture
Authorities in the capital Beijing raised warnings for torrential rain and said the city was prepared to activate its flood control response on Tuesday morning.
Beijing is expected to experience "significant rainfall" from Tuesday until Thursday, with authorities warning of the risk of flash floods in the city and landslides in the surrounding mountainous areas.
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authorities → raise → areas
The typhoon had already travelled 6,000 kilometres before it made landfall, giving it a life cycle three times longer than an ordinary typhoon, and bringing with it an ultra-large cloud system that enveloped China's east, CCTV said in another report.
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CCTV → travel → report
Dolphin's impact was also being compared to Doksuri in 2023.
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impact → compare → 2023
That typhoon crossed the country after causing destruction in southeastern Fujian province, unleashing record-breaking rainfall in Beijing.
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typhoon → cross → Beijing
As the storm clouds meet colder air in the north, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will need to brace for heavy rain into Thursday, CCTV said.
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CCTV → meet → Thursday
Hong Kong, on China's southern coast, has seen extreme heat due to Dolphin, recording its hottest day ever on Sunday at 36.9 degrees Celsius, the highest since records began in 1884, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, the territory's weather body.
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records → see → Observatory
Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) said it expected the 2026 northwest Pacific typhoon season to be one of the most active on record and to include 28 tropical storms, 20 typhoons and 13 intense typhoons.
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season → say → storms
TSR said the ongoing strong El Niño event, high activity to date and weaker-than-normal trade winds across the northwest Pacific basin, were key reasons for the intensity of the typhoon season.
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event → say → season
Dolphin did not directly hit the Philippines, but it helped intensify seasonal monsoon rains that set off flooding and landslides on the main northern island region of Luzon.
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that → hit → Luzon
A landslide buried three houses Sunday night in the northern mountain resort city of Baguio, killing 10 people whose bodies were dug out in two days of frantic search by rescuers.
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bodies → bury → rescuers
Three people were rescued with injuries and brought to a hospital, Baguio officials said.
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officials → rescue → hospital
The deaths from the mudslide raised the death toll in nearly a week of torrential rains, floods and a tropical storm last week in the northern Luzon region to 15, the government's Office of Civil Defence said.
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Office → raise → Defence
More than a million people were affected by the heavy monsoon rains and floods, including about 98,000 who were displaced from homes.
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who → affect → homes
