NAHA — Typhoon Dolphin lashed Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture on Saturday, injuring six people and cutting power to more than 50,000 buildings as strong winds disrupted flights and damaged infrastructure, authorities said.
Five elderly people were injured in Okinawa, three of them after being blown over by powerful winds, with the injuries not considered life-threatening, according to authorities. Another person was injured in neighboring Kagoshima prefecture, where the storm also affected the Amami island region.
Power outages were reported across both prefectures. Just over 12,000 buildings in Okinawa and nearly 39,000 in Kagoshima were without electricity, according to the latest figures reported by authorities.
Dolphin brought maximum sustained winds of about 162 kph (101 mph), with gusts reaching 216 kph, according to the report. Okinawa and Amami were the main areas in Japan expected to experience the storm’s effects.
Domestic airlines All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines cancelled flights to and from Okinawa as the storm disrupted transport across the region.
The typhoon’s passage also prompted preparations farther west. China designated Dolphin an orange-category typhoon, its second-highest warning level, and raised its emergency response level to III ahead of an expected landfall on the country’s east coast between late Sunday and early Monday, according to authorities.
Chinese authorities halted port operations in Zhejiang, suspended ferry services and ordered fishing vessels back to port. Some construction work was also suspended, while Ningbo Lishe International Airport said it would halt flights on Sunday. Forecasters warned that parts of eastern Zhejiang could receive more than 600 mm of rain.
In Taiwan, authorities said 78 flights had been cancelled because of the typhoon. Heavy rain was expected in northern parts of the island, although no evacuations had been ordered as of Saturday.
Authorities continued to monitor conditions in affected areas as Dolphin moved through the region, with Okinawa and Amami remaining among the areas facing the storm’s effects.
