Typhoon Bavi forces evacuation of nearly 2 million in China

Chinese authorities evacuated nearly 2 million people as Typhoon Bavi slammed Zhejiang province, one of the summer’s largest mass relocations and a sharp test of how far China’s emergency system can stretch when storms intensify over the eastern industrial belt.

Bavi first came ashore near Yuhuan at about 11:20 p.m. Saturday, then made a second landfall near Yueqing, under Wenzhou’s administration, around midnight. Before landfall, the storm carried maximum sustained winds of 144 kph, and China’s national weather center said early Sunday that it had weakened to a severe tropical storm with winds near 101 kph as it continued northwest across eastern China.

The wind loss did not end the danger. In Zhejiang, residents said gusts were strong enough to tear roof tiles loose and break off tree branches, while flooded canals and streets quickly turned neighborhoods into hazard zones. In Yueqing, emergency crews used excavators and chainsaws to clear fallen trees, and a landslide in the city’s mountainous north sent boulders onto a road and submerged nearby vegetation.

Transport across the region was badly disrupted. Flights, trains and road traffic all faced delays or cancellations as the storm moved inland, while authorities warned that the system, described as roughly France-sized, could keep dumping dangerous rain across eastern and northern China for days. The longer rainfall window raised the risk of flooding and secondary landslides even after the center weakened.

Bavi was the second typhoon to affect China in just over a week, after Typhoon Maysak made landfall in southern China on July 3. Its path also underscored how far the storm’s reach extended beyond Zhejiang. The broader weather system affected Japan’s southern Sakishima islands, northern Taiwan and the Philippines. Taiwan reported 134 injuries, and at least 18 deaths were reported in the Philippines as the system moved through the region.

For eastern China, the episode was not just another coastal strike. It hit densely populated, economically vital provinces that depend on uninterrupted transport links, drained streets and resilient drainage systems, and it arrived with enough force to force a near-2 million-person evacuation before the core winds even reached land.