More than 1.7 million evacuated as Typhoon Bavi makes landfall in China | Climate News

Super Typhoon Bavi has been downgraded but is still dangerous, meteorologists say.

Bavi made landfall in China at 11:20pm (15:20GMT) on Saturday, Xinhua news agency said, citing the Zhejiang provincial meteorological observatory.

Bavi previously brought strong winds and rain to Japan’s southern islands and Taiwan. It was the second typhoon in a week to impact China in just more than a week’s time. The first, Maysak, made landfall in southern China last weekend.

Chinese authorities evacuated more than 1.7 million people on Saturday and issued high alerts as eastern China braced for Bavi, which had maximum sustained winds of 144kph (89mph) near its centre

Bavi is expected to move northwestward inland after making landfall, with its intensity gradually weakening.

Although not as strong as when it thundered through the US Pacific islands on Monday and tracked northwest, Bavi remains a significant risk due to the large volumes of moisture it carries in its rain bands.

China’s national weather agency earlier issued an orange typhoon alert – the second-highest on a four-level rating. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled, rail travel services have been reduced, and many schools and ferry services have been suspended.

“I’m a little worried, but I think it’ll be OK,” Huang Xinghuan, 50, a resident of Wenzhou, a densely populated city in Zhejiang, told the Reuters news agency while buying groceries at a traditional wet market before it closed in advance of the typhoon.

His family, he said, had stocked about two or three days’ water, and food supplies remain guaranteed.

“We’ve been through typhoons before. We’ll get through it,” he added.

In Ningde city, Fujian province, more than 3,700 people were evacuated from high-risk onshore areas by Friday evening, Xinhua said. Authorities there have placed more than 17,000 emergency rescue workers on standby.

Meanwhile, China’s southern region of Hainan and Guangxi are still reeling from the effects of Tropical Storm Maysak earlier this week. At least 39 people died in the city of Nanning, where a breached dam sent torrents of water through the streets.

Philippines records deaths, Taiwan escapes casualties

At least 17 people were killed in the Philippines after heavy rains brought on by an enhanced southwest monsoon and worsened by Bavi’s impact triggered landslides overnight on Friday.

In Taiwan, where Bavi is expected to sweep past on Saturday according to the island’s Central Weather Administration, at least 36 people have been injured – mainly while riding motorcycles on slippery roads in the heavy rain and winds.

Some 14,210 people were evacuated across the island by Saturday morning, particularly from the city of Taichung and the county of Hualien. Schools, offices and most restaurants across Taiwan have been closed.

Meanwhile, more than 200 flights were cancelled across Japan as authorities in the southern Okinawa prefecture warned of high waves, strong winds and storm surges. Strong winds and rain have hit the southern Sakishima island chain – administered under Okinawa – since Friday.