China Evacuates Nearly Two Million as Powerful Typhoon Bavi Sweeps Across East Coast

Typhoon Bavi lashes China, forces nearly 2 million to evacuate

BEIJING — Chinese authorities evacuated nearly 2 million residents as Typhoon Bavi slammed into the eastern coastline of the country, the second major typhoon to strike China in a week.

The storm first hit the coastal city of Taizhou on Saturday night, according to Chinese state media, before reaching Wenzhou hours later. Bavi weakened to a severe tropical storm after landfall, but forecasters warned it remained a significant flood threat because of the large amount of moisture contained within its rain bands.

The storm’s center moved into Hangzhou in Zhejiang province by Sunday morning and was expected to continue moving northwest toward Anhui province before entering the northern Yellow Sea, meteorologists said.

Authorities evacuated more than 1.7 million people from the province of Zhejiang and moved thousands more in neighbouring areas. In the affected regions, authorities suspended schools, businesses and outdoor activities, and cancelled some 400 flights and dozens of train services.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated in Wenzhou, a city of some 10 million residents in the storm's path. "You could hear roof tiles and tree branches falling," Wenzhou resident Li Liangxing told Reuters. “We were scared, of course.

Officials said the government evacuated 100,000 people as a safety measure to lessen the risk of the storm.

Bavi intensified into a super typhoon before moving west across the Pacific and into China. It brought destructive winds to Guam and the Northern Marianas before weakening toward Japan’s Ryukyu island chain and Taiwan.

Japanese authorities reported at least five injuries and widespread power outages on the affected islands. Taiwan skirted a direct landfall but received heavy rainfall that led to evacuations and stoked fears of landslides. Some mountain areas could get as much as a metre of rain, authorities warned. Flights were cancelled in several places and schools suspended classes.

The storm system triggered landslides earlier in the week that killed at least 17 people in the Philippines.

The latest storm comes after Typhoon Maysak in southern China, which officials said killed at least 39 people, caused widespread agricultural damage and spawned two rare tornadoes in Hubei province.

The storm is expected to weaken further as it moves further inland, but forecasters said heavy rain and localised flooding remain a concern in several eastern provinces.