Share to ClassroomTyphoon Dolphin Forces One Million From Homes
Typhoon Dolphin hit China's east coast on Sunday evening. It landed first at Yuhuan in Zhejiang province, with winds of about 150 kilometres per hour. An hour later it landed again near the city of Wenzhou. Before it arrived, officials gave their highest warning, a red alert. The BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) said more than one million people left home, while The Washington Times said more than 300,000.
Dolphin was a very big storm that lived a long time. Chinese state television said it travelled about 6,000 kilometres before it reached land, so it lived more than three times longer than a normal typhoon. Although it never landed in the Philippines, it made the monsoon rains there much stronger. Those rains flooded northern Luzon. On Saturday the storm also brought rain to northern Taiwan.
Life in eastern China was badly affected, and Shanghai's two airports cancelled about 60 percent of Sunday's flights. Wenzhou moved about 900,000 people and opened more than 1,000 shelters. Parts of Disneyland and Legoland closed, and state media showed ankle-deep water in an old part of Shanghai. State media also reported that a nine-year-old boy is missing after the sea swept him away. Forecasters warned of more heavy rain and landslides until Wednesday.
