Typhoon Bavi: China braced for second major storm in a week
Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from parts of eastern China as a powerful typhoon, the country’s second in a week, hit the coast.
Spanning 1,000 km (620 miles) at its widest point – roughly the width of France – Typhoon Bavi is expected to make landfall near the major city of Wenzhou on Sunday morning.
After battering a remote Japanese island chain, it brought heavy rains to Taiwan as it passed its northern tip. Previous landslides triggered by the storm caused the death of 17 people in the Philippines.
Although it has become a Category 1 typhoon, it still poses a risk due to the high amount of moisture in the rain bands.
Bavi is expected to bring “exceptionally heavy rains” to eastern Zhejiang province and northeastern Fujian province, officials said, adding that the evacuations were “purely for the purpose of protection against the epidemic.” [worst-case] scenario”.
The city of Wenzhou, home to about 10 million people, is close to the storm’s path.
Bavi began as a super typhoon that hit Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands last Monday with winds of 180 mph (290 km/h).
As the wind weakened to 144 km/h and moved across the Pacific, it hit the Sakishima islands, part of Japan’s Ryukyu island chain between the country’s main islands and Taiwan. At least five people were injured and thousands were left without power.
Taiwan was not directly affected, but thousands of people were forced to flee their homes and there was a risk of landslides after heavy rain. No country reported any deaths.
