China, Taiwan brace for Typhoon Bavi, possibly the most powerful storm in years

Written by: Joe Cash, Yimou Lee and Mariko Katsumura

BEIJING/SUAO, Taiwan/TOKYO, July 9 (Reuters) – China and Taiwan were bracing for what is likely to be the most devastating tropical storm in years, with parts of China still reeling from Typhoon Bavi’s near 200 km per hour (124 mph) winds and parts of China still reeling from southeastern Taiwan on Thursday.

Authorities in Taiwan have urged residents to stock up on supplies and prepare for the strongest typhoon that could hit the island since Kong-rey, which killed three people in 2024.

Bavi, currently about 1,000 km (621 miles) across at its widest point, or roughly the width of France, is expected to pass northern Taiwan before making landfall in China’s eastern Fujian province on Saturday evening, according to the China National Meteorological Center.

Storms of this size are “pretty rare in recent years,” Taiwan Central Weather Administration forecaster Jason Chang told Reuters, adding that Bavi would be the largest storm large enough to hit the island since 1987.

Rescue workers in China are still sifting through debris left by Typhoon Maysak, which ripped through the southwestern region of Guangxi earlier this week and killed at least 39 people, local officials said at a news conference on Thursday. They added that nine people were still missing across the region.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, along with neighbors Japan and Taiwan, are increasingly exposed to devastating weather events that scientists attribute to climate change. ⁠This year is particularly concerning because the expected emergence of El Niño could increase temperatures and fuel more frequent and intense typhoons.

“Some loss in wind intensity is expected starting Thursday, but Bavi will remain a dangerous storm as it will impact Taiwan late Friday and eastern China through Monday,” according to Jason Nicholls, an expert at AccuWeather, a commercial forecasting service.

WE ARE SEEKING SHELTER FROM THE STORM

In Taiwan’s northeastern port city of Suao, hundreds of fishing boats filled the harbor to shelter from the oncoming storm as residents lined up to receive sandbags from local authorities and farmers rushed to harvest rice while the weather was nice.

Chen Ming-hui, a 60-year-old captain of a 3-metric ton fishing vessel, said he hoped the typhoon would move further north and avoid a direct hit, recalling how previous storms had sunk boats and flooded the fishing town.

“Don’t be fooled by the beautiful and calm weather right now. A storm like this can be very scary,” Chen said, examining the ropes stretched on his boat.

About 111 km (68 miles) southwest of Suao in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, the country’s meteorological agency warned residents to be on high alert for high winds, landslides, flooding and storm surge on Friday and Saturday.

The remnants of Typhoon Maysak spawned at least two inland hurricanes and major flooding in China’s central Hubei province.

Residents of the worst-hit towns in the Guangxi region were trying to get their lives back together before the next storm arrived. Footage published by state media showed people climbing onto the backs of rescue workers from second-floor windows to escape their apartments and pulling belongings out of floodwaters, while aid workers used drones to deliver essential supplies to inaccessible areas.

Images published by Beijing News showed rows of dead pigs lying on their backs on a farm in Binyang County, their swollen bodies spotted with gray and already decomposed after being submerged under water for two days, the report said.

According to China’s Global Times newspaper, three lions in Guigang Zoo died in floodwaters brought by Maysak; According to Wang Liyuan, the zoo’s operator, 100 animals were still missing, including two zebras, four hedgehogs, dozens of parrots and two North American raccoons.

SUPPORT FOR THE COUP

Japan Airlines said it canceled 48 domestic flights and two international flights scheduled for Friday due to the typhoon, which affected an estimated 7,610 passengers.

All Nippon Airways said 34 flights mostly serving Okinawa’s Ishigaki and Miyako airports would be canceled, affecting about 1,800 passengers on Friday, and another 33 domestic flights would be canceled on Saturday, affecting 5,900 people.

“We need to pay close attention to Bavi as it spends a long time condensing off the Pacific coast, drawing energy from the warm ocean and accumulating large amounts of moisture,” said Xiangbo Feng, a research scientist in tropical cyclones at Imperial College London.

“The damage could be catastrophic once it reaches land or approaches coastal areas. A small change in Bavi’s route could have a significant impact,” Feng added.

(Reporting by Joe Cash and Xiuhao Chen in Beijing, Yimou Lee in Taipei and Mariko Katsumura in Tokyo; Editing by Michael Perry)