Intro: Typhoon Dolphin battered Japan with powerful winds before advancing toward China, where authorities closed ports and prepared for heavy rainfall.
Tokyo
Typhoon Dolphin lashed Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture, injuring six people, disrupting flights and cutting power to more than 50,000 buildings as authorities in China prepared for the storm’s expected landfall along the eastern coast.
Five elderly people in Okinawa suffered non-life-threatening injuries, with three of them falling because of strong winds. Another person was injured in Kagoshima prefecture, authorities said.
The typhoon brought maximum sustained winds of 162 kph, with gusts reaching 216 kph, prompting authorities to warn residents about dangerous conditions. Nearly 39,000 buildings were without power in Kagoshima, while more than 12,000 were affected in Okinawa.
Domestic airlines ANA and Japan Airlines cancelled flights to and from Okinawa as the storm disrupted transport across the region. Okinawa and Amami Island in Kagoshima were identified as the main areas expected to be affected in Japan.
China was preparing for a potentially stronger impact, with Dolphin expected to make landfall between late Sunday and early Monday. Authorities classified it as an orange-category typhoon, the country’s second-highest warning level, and raised the emergency response level to III over concerns about flooding and landslides.
The National Meteorological Center said the storm was most likely to make landfall between Zhoushan in Zhejiang province and Fuding in Fujian province, with winds near its centre expected to reach 85-101 mph.
China’s National Marine Forecasting Center maintained its highest red-level wave warning, forecasting waves of up to eight metres off Zhejiang.
Box:
Five elderly people in Okinawa suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
STORM ALERT
- Winds: Up to 162 kph, gusting to 216 kph
- Japan: More than 50,000 buildings without power
- China: Landfall expected late Sunday or early Monday
- Rainfall: Some parts of eastern Zhejiang could receive more than 600 mm
- Waves: Up to 8 metres forecast off Zhejiang