Dolphin packed maximum sustained winds of 151 kmh near its center when it made landfall in Zhejiang, the province to the south and west of Shanghai, on the evening of Aug. 9 before weakening to a tropical storm.
Its remaining rain clouds continued to soak the eastern provinces, including Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong on Aug. 10.
Many streets in Shanghai were flooded, including in the main commercial centers.
The city’s two airports cancelled a total of 943 flights due to the typhoon, reducing capacity by nearly 40%, state broadcaster CCTV said.
China Eastern Airlines said on Aug. 10 it was trying to resume flights to Shanghai, Zhejiang and other destinations in an “orderly manner”.
Many streets in Shanghai’s suburban Jiading and Qingpu districts around the city center remained waterlogged, according to live-streams shared by residents on social media.
The live videos, not verified by Reuters, showed people wading through knee-high murky water.
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People make their way through a flooded street in Shanghai on Aug. 10, 2026. Photo by AFP |
“It rained almost all night last night. When I woke up this morning, I found the neighborhood flooded, and the streets were severely flooded,” said 39-year-old Hou Lina, who works in sales in Jiading in Shanghai.
“I’ve lived in Shanghai for 10 years, and this is the first time I’ve experienced such inconvenience from a typhoon. This is the first time I’ve encountered such widespread flooding,” she said.
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 Aug. 10.
Powerful winds and lashing rain flipped over a truck in Zhejiang’s Wenzhou, a video posted on TikTok on Aug. 9 showed. It was not clear what happened to the driver.
Rain and flood warnings for Beijing
The strongest typhoon to hit China in 2026, Dolphin is forecast to move deeper inland to the central provinces of Hubei and Henan in the coming days while also pushing moisture north.
The authorities in the capital Beijing raised warnings for torrential rain and said the city was prepared to activate its flood control response on the morning of Aug. 11.
Beijing is expected to experience “significant rainfall” from Aug. 11 to 13, with the authorities warning of the risk of flash floods in the city and landslides in the surrounding mountainous areas.
The typhoon had already travelled 6,000 km 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.
Dolphin’s impact was also being compared to Typhoon Doksuri in 2023, which caused destruction in south-eastern Fujian Province and unleashed record-breaking rainfall in Beijing.
As the storm clouds meet colder air in the north, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei will need to brace themselves for rains into Aug. 13, CCTV said.