Over 900,000 Evacuated as Typhoon Bavi Lashes Taiwan, Japan Islands

More than 900,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in eastern China as Typhoon Bavi approaches the country’s coast, while strong winds and heavy rains continue to batter northern Taiwan and Japan’s remote southwestern islands.

Chinese authorities said the typhoon is expected to make landfall early on Sunday near the eastern city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, home to nearly 10 million residents.

The large-scale evacuation comes after days of extreme weather that has devastated parts of southern and central China, where storms have killed at least 39 people, triggered widespread flooding, caused dozens of rivers to overflow and led to the collapse of a reservoir dam.

According to the Wenzhou city government, 887,801 residents had been relocated from vulnerable communities by late Friday as authorities intensified emergency measures ahead of the storm’s arrival.

Explaining the scale of the operation, the city government said, “The proactive, all-out mobilisation, which is sparing no effort or cost, is undertaken entirely to guard against the (worst-case) scenario.”
Residents used wood to reinforce metal shutters protecting shops and taped windows, with Bavi forecast to bring “exceptionally heavy rains” to eastern Zhejiang and northeastern Fujian province, CCTV footage showed.

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Torrential rain further north prompted the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from their homes, the government said, as water discharge flows from the capital’s Miyun Reservoir were ramped up to capture potential floodwaters.

Streets were largely deserted in northern Taiwan, where most businesses were shut for a second day as wind and rain buffeted the region.

More than 14,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, hundreds of flights cancelled and more than 170,000 households across the island hit with power outages because of the storm.

“Everyone is afraid of the severe weather and staying indoors, but I only came out because I have orders,” a breakfast shop owner surnamed Tsai told AFP in Taiwan’s port city of Keelung.

“Some people are on duty and wouldn’t have anything to eat, so I still need to deliver food to them,” the 50-year-old said.

Bavi was downgraded to a typhoon as it moved across the Pacific Ocean after slamming into Guam and the Northern Marianas on Monday as a super typhoon.

Its maximum sustained wind speeds slowed to 137 kilometres (85 miles) per hour, with gusts of around 173 kmh, on Saturday, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

The CWA warned of “extremely torrential rain” across northern Taiwan and “dangerous waves” of up to 10 metres (33 feet) along the coast as Bavi skirted the island’s north.

– Death toll rises –

In the Philippines, the death toll from landslides and other incidents triggered by heavy rains driven by Bavi rose to 18, most on the southern island of Mindanao.

Nearly 11,000 people across the archipelago fled their homes and dozens of ports remain closed, with 313 vessels taking shelter.

More than 18,000 households and facilities across Okinawa lost power as the typhoon pounded Japan’s remote southwestern islands, with the Miyako region hardest hit.

Japanese airlines cancelled dozens of flights, affecting more than 26,000 passengers.

“Miyako is taking worst of typhoon Bavi,” professional storm-chaser James Reynolds posted on X from Ishigaki on Saturday.

“Conditions on Ishigaki gale force with some overnight gusts to typhoon strength.”

Oceans experienced their hottest June on record and could set fresh highs in the months ahead, the European Union’s Copernicus Marine Service said last week.

Warmer oceans help tropical storms to intensify and add more moisture, which can fall as heavy rain.

Adding to the mix is the return this year of El Nino, a natural climate phenomenon that warms Pacific Ocean surface temperatures and typically occurs every two to seven years.

– ‘Like a rainy day’

Bavi had been on track on Friday to be the largest typhoon to hit Taiwan in more than 30 years, but its strong-wind radius has since shrunk to 350 kilometres, CWA forecaster Jason Cheng said.

Some Taiwanese expressed frustration at the government’s typhoon warnings, which caused most businesses to shut on Friday and people to shelter indoors.

“The government reports make it sound absolutely terrifying, panicking everyone, right?” said another breakfast shop owner in Keelung surnamed Li, upset at the loss of business from the storm.

“Look at how it has caused people to scramble for groceries and clear out the shelves. Honestly, there hasn’t even been much wind or rain these past two days.”

Dottie Xu, 17, said she took a public bus to work at a grocery store in Bali, a coastal district of New Taipei district.

“My boss told me that if the wind gets strong, we’ll pull down the metal shutter because the goods outside could be blown away,” Xu told AFP.

Bali convenience store worker Kang Yu-chen, 19, said: “It’s just like a rainy day.”

AFP