Typhoon Dolphin Floods Shanghai, Forces Mass Evacuations and Transit Suspensions

Typhoon Dolphin brought torrential rain, flooding and transport disruptions to Shanghai after making landfall in neighboring Zhejiang Province yesterday, forcing the city to relocate more than 215,000 people from high-risk areas and deploy emergency crews across flooded roads and underground spaces.

From 8pm yesterday to 5am today, heavy rain and torrential downpours hit central and southern Shanghai, with the heaviest rainfall recorded in Langxia town in Jinshan District at 115 millimeters. More than half of the city’s land areas reported maximum gusts of force 7 to 9, while Haiwan town in Fengxian District recorded force 10 winds.

At 4am, the center of Dolphin was in Shouning County, Ningde, Fujian Province, and had weakened to a tropical storm. Strong spiral rain bands on the northern side of the typhoon were still affecting Shanghai, bringing significant wind and rain.

Dolphin, the 13th typhoon of the year, made landfall at about 5:30pm yesterday along the coast of Kanmen Subdistrict in Yuhuan, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, as a severe typhoon. Under the influence of its rain bands, Shanghai saw widespread heavy to extremely heavy rain. The city’s downtown areas, Pudong and Minhang at one point issued red rainstorm alerts, the highest level in China’s warning system.

The Shanghai flood control authority said 215,600 people had been relocated from dangerous areas.

Flooding was reported in several districts, including Pudong, Xuhui, Huangpu and Changning. City monitoring systems identified more than 180 waterlogged locations. Shanghai Chengtou Water said 32 municipal pump trucks and emergency teams responded to 119 flooded sites, while 260 district-level teams patrolled roads. By 5pm, flooding had been cleared at 155 locations, with 26 still being handled.

More than 300 flood-control pumping stations across the city were operating at full capacity, discharging 55.71 million cubic meters of water. The city’s three major wastewater zones — Bailonggang, Shidongkou and Zhuyuan — continued operating steadily.

In Pudong, flooding at the intersection of Century Avenue and Pudian Road was linked to the area’s low terrain and its location at the downstream end of a drainage system. Four pump trucks worked continuously there, and water was largely cleared by about 3pm.

In Changning, rainwater flooded roads near Kaixuan Road and Kaitian Road and poured into the sunken plaza of Changning International. Workers placed sandbags at entrances, while police temporarily sealed off the flooded commercial area and told businesses to cut power and evacuate.

Metro operations were also affected. From the start of service today, Lines 3, 5, 16 and Pujiang were fully suspended, while Lines 1, 2, 6 and 10 operated on shortened routes. Several other lines ran at reduced speeds on ground-level and elevated sections.

All ferry routes in Shanghai were suspended. To help cyclists and e-bike riders cross the Huangpu River, authorities temporarily opened the upper south deck of the Fuxing East Road Tunnel to non-motorized traffic, with cones, traffic guidance and safety reminders in place.