SHANGHAI, More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes across eastern China as Typhoon Dolphin unleashed torrential rain and powerful winds, flooding streets, grounding flights and leaving families uncertain about when and in what condition they will be able to return home. The enormous evacuation unfolded across one of China’s most densely populated and economically important regions after Dolphin made landfall Sunday in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai. More than 900,000 people were evacuated in the Wenzhou area, while Shanghai authorities relocated more than 215,000 residents from communities considered vulnerable to flooding and other storm hazards. For families ordered out, evacuation meant more than leaving a dangerous area: many had to walk away from homes, businesses and possessions without knowing what rising water might leave behind.
Dolphin brought winds of about 150 kph, or 93 mph, around landfall before weakening as it moved inland, but the declining wind speed did not end the threat. The storm carried huge amounts of moisture ashore, producing intense rainfall and raising the danger of flash floods, overflowing waterways and landslides. Reports citing meteorological authorities said some areas of Shanghai, a city of roughly 25 million people, received as much as 400 millimeters, nearly 16 inches, of rain. Roads flooded, public transportation was disrupted and emergency workers were deployed as authorities monitored rivers, reservoirs, saturated hillsides and low-lying communities. The danger can persist long after a typhoon’s strongest winds disappear because its remaining moisture can continue producing destructive rainfall far inland.
The storm also caused widespread disruption at Shanghai’s two major airports, with more than 1,000 flights canceled as Dolphin approached and moved through the region, affecting travelers inside China and passengers connecting through one of Asia’s most important aviation hubs. The economic consequences could reach considerably farther. Shanghai and the surrounding Yangtze River Delta form one of the world’s most important manufacturing, shipping and commercial regions, with factories, ports, airports and rail networks tied to supply chains stretching across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Even relatively short interruptions can delay passengers, cargo and manufacturing operations thousands of kilometers from the storm. But for evacuees, the immediate concerns were far more basic: whether their homes remained habitable, whether businesses survived and when families would be allowed to return.
China’s experience with previous storms helps explain the scale of the evacuation. In 2023, the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri produced historic rainfall in Beijing and neighboring Hebei province after making landfall much farther south. Beijing recorded its heaviest rainfall since official records began in the 19th century, while floods damaged roads and bridges and forced mass evacuations, including more than 1 million people relocated in Hebei. The disaster demonstrated that a tropical cyclone can remain dangerous hundreds of kilometers from the coast. Similar lessons followed Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, when catastrophic winds and storm surge devastated coastal communities and killed thousands. Haiyan became a global lesson in the importance not only of issuing evacuation warnings but also of ensuring that residents understand exactly what hazards such as storm surge can do and have somewhere safe to go.
Nigeria faces a different weather threat but has experienced remarkably similar human consequences. The country does not experience typhoons, yet its devastating 2022 floods affected millions, destroying homes, farmland, roads and livelihoods and forcing large numbers of people from their communities. In September 2024, another disaster struck Maiduguri in northeastern Borno state after heavy rainfall and excessive water flowing into the Alau Dam preceded widespread flooding. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency reported that more than 414,000 people were affected in Borno, nearly 390,000 were displaced and at least 37 died, while thousands of homes were damaged. The circumstances differed from Dolphin, but the lesson was much the same: warnings save lives only when people have transportation, functioning evacuation routes and safe places to go, while adequate drainage, maintained dams and other resilient infrastructure can determine whether extreme rainfall becomes a manageable emergency or a catastrophe.
The growing exposure of cities to extreme rainfall has also intensified questions about climate change. Scientists have established that warmer air can hold more moisture, creating conditions capable of producing heavier rainfall, while warmer ocean water can provide additional energy to tropical cyclones. That does not mean climate change can automatically be blamed for Dolphin or any individual storm; determining its influence on a particular event generally requires a dedicated attribution study. But researchers have warned that a warming climate can intensify some cyclone-related hazards, particularly extreme rainfall and coastal flooding, while rapid urban growth puts more people and infrastructure in vulnerable areas. Shanghai embodies those stakes: the city sits near the mouth of the Yangtze River, contains one of the world’s busiest ports and anchors a vast network of residential communities, factories and transportation infrastructure, making its protection from extreme weather both a humanitarian and international economic concern.
As Dolphin weakens and moves farther inland, the measure of the disaster will increasingly shift from wind speeds and evacuation totals to what families find when they return. Authorities must determine whether buildings are safe, restore transportation and other disrupted services, clear debris and assess damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure. China’s mass evacuation will also test whether years of investment in forecasting, emergency planning and flood protection can limit casualties in increasingly exposed coastal cities. From Shanghai to Maiduguri and Manila, previous disasters have shown that surviving the storm itself is only the beginning. Dolphin will eventually disappear from weather maps, but a harder question will remain: how many rapidly growing cities are prepared not only to evacuate millions before the next major flood, but to help them rebuild before another disaster arrives?
