China evacuates one million from homes as massive storm arrives

Chinese authorities have evacuated more than a million people from their homes in eastern China including the financial capital Shanghai, as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall.

The typhoon brought heavy rain and halted transportation across the region. Nearly 1,000 flights were cancelled in Shanghai alone on Monday.

While authorities have downgraded Dolphin to a tropical storm, they continue to warn of torrential rains, severe flooding and the risk of landslides through to Wednesday as the storm moves north.

Chinese authorities had earlier issued their highest-level red alert for Dolphin, which is the strongest storm to hit China this year.

It packed maximum wind speeds of 150km/h (94mph) when it first slammed into Yuhuan in the Zhejiang province at 17:30 (09:30 GMT) on Sunday before making a second landfall in the city of Wenzhou about an hour later, meteorological authorities said.

Heavy rain was forecast on Monday for the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the city of Shanghai.