[Weather] Shanghai Bears Brunt of Rain, Wind as Typhoon Dolphin Makes Landfall

Typhoon Dolphin came ashore in Zhejiang Province, roughly 300 kilometers south of Shanghai, Sunday evening. And its outer bands will keep the city's wind and rain building overnight, with rough weather likely for Monday's morning commute before easing by midday.

The typhoon made landfall around 5:30pm Sunday at Kanmen, in Yuhuan, Taizhou, on the Zhejiang coast, China's national weather bureau said.

At landfall, Dolphin carried maximum sustained winds of 42 meters per second, level 14 – strong enough to uproot large trees and rip roofing off weaker structures.

Commuters in Shanghai should expect wind and rain still going strong Monday morning. Gusts on land could hit level 8 to 9, strong enough to snap branches and topple small, shallow-rooted trees.

Another 60 to 100 millimeters of rain is expected overnight, with some areas seeing 140 to 160mm. Conditions should start easing by Monday midday as the storm moves further inland and away from the city.

Shanghai took the brunt of Dolphin's rain earlier Sunday. Pudong's Tangqiao subdistrict recorded 264mm by 2pm, and Xuhui's Xietu Road logged 94mm in a single hour, the city's fastest rate of the day.

The rain flooded more than 100 road sections and underpasses across Pudong, Huangpu, Changning and Xuhui districts. On Wukang Road, a popular tree-lined downtown street, several trees fell and the roadway flooded heavily.

Water authorities ran pumping stations at full capacity and sent in 32 mobile pump trucks to help clear the water. Rescue crews responded to more than 70 flooded sites citywide.

Forecasters expect the storm to weaken quickly now that it's inland, tracking west-northwest through southern Zhejiang and into Jiangxi Province by Monday daytime. Shanghai's meteorological bureau said the storm is unlikely to loop back or stall near the city.

Monday's high should reach 26 to 29 degrees Celsius, with showers or thunderstorms continuing citywide. Rain will taper off through the week, and temperatures are expected to climb back toward 33 degrees by the weekend.