China’s eastern coast prepared on Sunday 9 August for the arrival of Typhoon Dolphin, which triggered more than 1 000 flight cancellations, mass evacuations and a top-level alert from authorities.

Nearly 1 400 flights, in and out of Shanghai’s two main passenger airports, were cancelled on Sunday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Hangzhou’s airport in nearby Zhejiang province saw 270 inbound and outbound flights cancelled, the report said.

Typhoon Dolphin, which brought heavy rain and strong winds to Japan’s Okinawa in recent days, was expected to make landfall late Sunday or early Monday in Zhejiang or its neighbouring province of Fujian.

Seven people in Okinawa suffered minor injuries, including a man over 100 years old who was blown by gusts, fell to the ground and hit his head, according to the island’s government.

By Sunday afternoon (Okinawa is seven hours ahead of South Africa), 5 290 households in Okinawa were without electricity, according to regional utility Okinawa Electric Power.

In Taiwan, dozens of ferry services were suspended, and more than 180 flights were cancelled as the storm brought downpours and strong winds to the island’s north on Sunday.

China’s National Meteorological Centre issued a red typhoon alert – its most severe warning – on Sunday morning, forecasting extraordinary torrential rain in some areas of central and eastern Zhejiang.

Heavy precipitation was also expected to fall in Shanghai and parts of Fujian, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces through Monday afternoon, the centre said.

After making landfall, Typhoon Dolphin was expected to weaken whilst moving in a northwesterly direction over eastern China.

In Fujian, nearly 99 000 people had been relocated from risky areas on Saturday evening ahead of the storm’s arrival, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Services on more than 200 ferry routes were suspended in Zhejiang and Fujian, Xinhua said.

Work at offshore projects had been halted whilst 474 construction vessels had been called to port by Friday morning, Xinhua added.

Some train services in affected areas were also suspended on Sunday to ensure passenger safety, state media reported.

Typhoon Dolphin’s arrival in China comes two weeks after Typhoon Noul hit southern Guangdong province, declared by authorities at the time as the strongest to strike China this year.

Three people were killed, and hundreds of homes were damaged by Typhoon Noul in the Philippines before it reached China.