China maintains heavy rain alert despite weakening of Typhoon Dolphin

China's national meteorological authority has raised the emergency response level for Typhoon Dolphin to Level III and changed the typhoon alert from yellow to orange. This measure was taken because the 13th typhoon of 2026 is approaching the country's east coast, according to Xinhua agency.

China uses a four-color weather alert system, where red indicates the most severe level, followed by orange, yellow, and blue. In parallel, the country has a four-level emergency response system, with Level I being the highest.

Meteorologists project that certain regions may receive between 200 and 400 mm of rain in the coming days. The typhoon is expected to make landfall along the coast, covering areas between Zhoushan in Zhejiang and Fuding in Fujian, during the transition from Sunday night to Monday morning.

On Saturday at 09:00 local time (corresponding to 02:00 in Lisbon), the center of Typhoon Dolphin was located in the southern East China Sea, approximately 520 km east of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province, in eastern China. The forecast indicates that it will move northwest at a speed of 10 to 15 kilometers per hour, maintaining its intensity or showing slight intensification.

Due to the storm, several tourist attractions in Zhejiang province will remain closed this Saturday and Sunday, as well as all nautical activities, including cruises and ferries. Authorities in the city of Ningbo, one of the largest in the province, have determined the closure of schools and other educational institutions during the weekend, in addition to suspending any water-related activities. As a precaution, about 800 vessels have been docked.

In Yichang, located in the central province of Hubei, the local weather station raised the alert level to red after recording more than 65 millimeters of precipitation in a single hour, as reported by state television CCTV.

Local authorities issued a warning about an 'extremely high' risk of flash floods in mountainous areas, as well as geological disasters, increased river volumes, and general flooding.

In the south of the country, the city of Sanya, situated on Hainan Island, also activated a red alert. This occurred after an area near a school accumulated 130.6 millimeters of rain over three hours.

The local weather station predicts that the atmospheric instability affecting the city will persist, generating new precipitation in various districts, with estimated accumulations between 50 and 100 millimeters in the next six hours.

Authorities also advised suspending school activities in certain regions and appealed to the public to take preventive measures against the risk of rising river levels, sudden floods, and landslides.

In the municipality of Chongqing, located in central China, the rainfall recorded between Tuesday and today resulted in the increase of approximately 50 rivers. Floods reached some low-lying areas adjacent to the banks, forcing the emergency evacuation of residents in areas considered risky, although official data has not yet provided the exact number of people relocated, nor registered casualties or missing persons.

In recent days, the rains in central China prompted the preventive relocation of nearly 400,000 people, concentrated only in the provinces of Shaanxi and Sichuan. In these provinces, authorities maintain a state of vigilance due to risks of flooding, flash floods in mountainous terrain, and geological events.

The worsening climatic conditions occur after multiple episodes of extreme rainfall recorded in July. These included floods linked to Typhoon Maysak in the Guangxi region in the south of the country, which caused at least 39 deaths, as well as various landslides and floods in central China, responsible for dozens of fatalities and disappearances.

Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources released a plan aimed at strengthening the prevention of geological disasters between 2026 and 2030. The ministry warned that climate change is intensifying the risk of sudden and chain reactions caused by extreme rainfall, even in areas traditionally not considered more vulnerable.