Typhoon Dolphin Strikes Okinawa, Heads Toward China

Typhoon Dolphin slammed Okinawa island on Saturday, tearing power out at 44,000 buildings and injuring five elderly residents before making Naha Airport shut down for flights. With winds topping 162 km/h, the storm has been named a “very strong” typhoon by Japan’s meteorological agency and is projected to strike China’s east coast late Sunday or early Monday.

Five people were injured in Okinawa, all elderly, after the typhoon’s violent winds caused three of them to fall. The National Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) reports numerous accounts of trees being toppled across Nago city and a car overturned and leaking oil in a parking lot.

Flights at Naha International Airport were cancelled, and the runway was closed the Friday evening as the storm hit. Meanwhile, in Zhejiang province of China, Ningbo Lishe International Airport suspended operations from 23:30 local time on Saturday and suspended all flights on Sunday, as a coastal typhoon alert was raised to its highest level and port and ferry services were halted.

The storm’s track is expected to take it away from southern Japan toward the eastern coast of China, with potential landfall on China’s eastern coast late on Sunday or early Monday. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of high waves, storm surge and lightning strikes as the typhoon makes damage potential far from exhausted in the region.

In the broader context, the western Pacific’s typhoon season typically runs from May to October. This year is a strong El Niño year, which can increase typhoon intensity. In an average year, 25 tropical storms reach tropical storm strength in the region, with about three making landfall in Japan, often as typhoons such as Dolphin.

Typhoons form over the north‑west Pacific, while hurricanes develop in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific.