Typhoon Dolphin Batters Okinawa, China Braces for Landfall
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- Typhoon Dolphin struck Japan's Okinawa prefecture on Saturday with sustained winds of 162 kph and gusts reaching 216 kph, injuring six people and cutting power to more than 50,000 buildings across Okinawa and Kagoshima.
- ANA and Japan Airlines cancelled flights to and from Okinawa, while Taiwan's government scrapped 78 flights — mostly international — as the storm moved west.
- China designated Dolphin an orange-category typhoon (second-highest level) and raised its emergency response to level III, forecasting landfall between Zhoushan city in Zhejiang and Fuding city in Fujian with 38-45 m/s winds near the centre.
- Shanghai's Yangshan port was cleared of vessels by late Friday and Ningbo Lishe International Airport announced all Sunday flight suspensions, with parts of eastern Zhejiang forecast to receive more than 600 mm of rain through Aug. 12.
- Taiwan denounced China's order that ships passing through the Taiwan Strait must obey Beijing's traffic control instructions during the typhoon as "ridiculous," saying China has no right to restrict access to international waters.
Why it matters: China's second-highest typhoon alert forced the evacuation of Shanghai's Yangshan port and Sunday flight suspensions at Ningbo Lishe, while parts of eastern Zhejiang face more than 600 mm of rain — flooding and landslide risk per Chinese authorities directly threatens the Yangtze River Delta's shipping and manufacturing corridor.
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