Typhoon Dolphin struck Japan's Okinawa prefecture on Saturday, injuring six people and cutting power to more than 50,000 buildings, while China shut ports and suspended flights and ferries ahead of the storm's expected landfall on its east coast. Taiwan canceled 78 flights, and Beijing's order for ships to heed its instructions in the Taiwan Strait drew a rebuke from Taipei.
Typhoon Dolphin lashed Japan's southern Okinawa prefecture on Saturday, injuring six people and cutting power to more than 50,000 buildings, while China shut ports and halted ferries ahead of the storm's expected arrival on its east coast.
Five elderly people in Okinawa, three of whom fell in strong winds, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and another person was hurt in Kagoshima prefecture, authorities said. Nearly 39,000 buildings lost power in Kagoshima and just over 12,000 in Okinawa, and ANA and Japan Airlines canceled flights to and from Okinawa. The typhoon carried maximum sustained winds of 162 kph (90 mph), with gusts reaching 216 kph. Okinawa and Amami island in Kagoshima prefecture are the main areas affected in Japan.
China braces for landfall
China expects the typhoon to make landfall between late Sunday and early Monday and has designated Dolphin an orange-category typhoon, the second-highest level, raising its emergency response level by one notch to level III because of flood and landslide risks.
China's National Meteorological Center said the storm is most likely to make landfall between Zhoushan city in Zhejiang province and Fuding city in Fujian province, with winds of 38 to 45 meters per second (85-101 mph) near its center. Forecasters separately kept a red-level warning for waves of 5 to 8 meters off Zhejiang through Sunday afternoon.
Ports, flights and rail suspended
Rain and strong winds are expected to affect eastern China through Aug 12, with some areas forecast to see rainfall exceeding 80 mm an hour. Zhejiang, one of China's biggest provincial economies and a manufacturing and export hub, raised its coastal alert to the highest level, halted port operations and suspended ferries; authorities elsewhere in eastern and southern China halted construction work and ordered fishing boats back to port.
Ningbo Lishe International Airport will suspend all flights Sunday, Shanghai's Yangshan port had been cleared of vessels by late Friday, and some Yangtze River Delta rail services will pause from Sunday. Beijing authorities said they are preparing flood-control and evacuation plans for the capital.
In Taiwan, 78 flights, mostly international, were canceled because of the typhoon, and authorities had not ordered evacuations as of Saturday.
Beijing's Taiwan Strait order draws rebuke
China ordered that ships passing through the Taiwan Strait must heed its traffic control instructions because of the typhoon. According to Taipei: "ridiculous" was how the government described the measures, saying Beijing has no right to restrict access to international waters. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and claims the strait; both Taipei and Washington reject that claim.
Source: All News
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