Typhoon Bavi Batters Japan As Taiwan And China Brace For Powerful Landfall

Typhoon Bavi has lashed Japan's southern islands with strong winds and heavy rain, as Taiwan and eastern China brace for the powerful storm with mass evacuations and high alerts. The typhoon, packing maximum sustained winds of 144 kilometres per hour near its centre, is forecast to pass north of Taiwan on Saturday before making landfall in China's Zhejiang province in the early hours of Sunday, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration and China's National Meteorological Center.

Across Okinawa prefecture in southern Japan, local authorities warned of high waves, strong winds and storm surges, with more than 200 flights cancelled across the region, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported. Schools and supermarkets on Japan's remote southwestern islands shut down ahead of the storm, while pineapple farmers harvested their fruit early and fishermen secured their boats in preparation.

In Taiwan, a total of 14,210 people had been evacuated as of Saturday morning, including from the eastern county of Hualien and the central city of Taichung . Schools and offices across most of the island were suspended, and authorities warned of destructive winds as the typhoon approached. Bavi had earlier killed at least 17 people in the southern Philippines , mostly due to landslides triggered by monsoon rains that the storm intensified before moving toward Taiwan.

Southeastern China is also on high alert. In the city of Ningde in Fujian province , more than 3,700 people were relocated from high risk coastal areas by Friday evening, according to the official Xinhua News Agency , while over 17,000 emergency rescue workers have been placed on standby across the province. China's National Meteorological Center issued an orange typhoon alert, the second highest on the country's four tier system, along with the first red alert for rainstorms this year. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled, ferry services suspended, and some high speed railway operations halted as authorities prepare for the storm's impact.

Forecasters have noted that Bavi spans roughly 1,000 kilometres at its widest point, meaning its outer rain bands are likely to affect a wide swath of the region even beyond the point of landfall. The storm's approach comes as parts of eastern China are still recovering from Typhoon Maysak earlier this week, which has been linked to at least 39 deaths.