Typhoon Dolphin, the strongest storm to hit China this year, has weakened after making landfall but continues to cause widespread disruption across the country, with torrential rain flooding roads, disrupting transport and forcing more than a million people to evacuate their homes.
Beijing was among the areas hit by heavy rain on Wednesday as the remnants of the storm moved north, carrying large amounts of tropical moisture inland. The capital’s Changping district recorded 90.7 mm of rainfall in just one hour on Wednesday morning, according to local authorities. Videos circulating on Chinese social media showed water covering major roads, with vehicles struggling to move through flooded stretches. Several roads in the capital were flooded, leaving cars and buses partially submerged and bringing traffic to a standstill.
Authorities in Beijing issued the city’s second-highest rainstorm warning as the situation developed. More than 250 bus routes were suspended, and subway lines were reported to be operating at reduced capacity as the city grappled with the disruption.
Although Dolphin has weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm, its massive rain bands continue to threaten northern and central parts of China even days after landfall. The storm had travelled around 6,000 km before making landfall in Zhejiang province on Sunday, first striking the coastal city of Yuhan with maximum winds of around 150 kmph, before making a second landfall near Wenzhou.
The scale of Dolphin’s journey and its lingering impact underscore the storm’s unusual reach — from a powerful typhoon striking China’s eastern coast to a weakened tropical system still capable of flooding the capital, hundreds of kilometres inland, days later. Authorities continue to monitor the storm’s remnants as they move further north.
— Daily Archives, World Desk