Typhoon Bavi was downgraded to a severe tropical storm on Sunday after making landfall in eastern China, where authorities had evacuated nearly two million people in its path. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Before reaching China, the storm lashed northern Taiwan and Japan’s remote southwestern islands, toppling trees and leaving tens of thousands without power. Extreme weather already wreaked havoc on southern and central China in the past week, with storms leaving at least 39 dead and causing dozens of rivers to overflow and a reservoir to burst.
China evacuates over one million as Typhoon Bavi nears
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Cover image: © France 24
Bavi first made landfall at around 11:20 pm on Saturday (1520 GMT) in Zhejiang province with winds of 144 kilometres (90 miles) an hour, state news agency Xinhua said, quoting the provincial meteorological observatory. “The core impact zone experienced fierce winds and heavy rain, with rapid runoff forming on the ground and roadside trees being uprooted,” national TV station CCTV reported as Bavi struck the city of Yuhuan. It then hit Yueqing city, where CCTV said firefighters, rescue workers and municipal employees were clearing “more than 1,300 trees” that had fallen or been uprooted. The eye of the storm had moved near the Zhejiang provincial capital Hangzhou at around 10 am (0200 GMT) on Sunday with force 10 winds of around 108 kmh, the China Weather Administration said. Zhejiang provincial officials forecast torrential rain in coastal regions and the possibility of flash floods, Xinhua said, warning of transport disruptions, rivers overflowing and farmland being inundated. Around 1.72 million people had been evacuated to safe places by Saturday, Xinhua said. ‘Sparing no effort’ Classes, work, transport and outdoor activities were suspended ahead of the storm’s arrival, and more than 300 flights were cancelled in Zhejiang province. Another 684 flights and 1,620 train services have been cancelled in Shanghai, media outlet The Paper said. Images shared online on Sunday showed streets in Zhejiang’s Wenzhou city, a metropolis of nearly 10 million people, submerged in floodwaters. The Wenzhou government said in a statement it was “sparing no effort or cost… to guard against the (worst-case) scenario”. Residents used planks to reinforce metal shutters protecting shops and taped windows, CCTV footage showed. Torrential rain further north prompted the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from their homes in Beijing, the government said. More than 130,000 people have fled their homes in Fujian province and around 34,000 people from Shanghai’s coastal areas and high-risk areas, state media reported. Bavi had been downgraded to a typhoon as it moved across the Pacific Ocean after hitting Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on Monday as a super typhoon. The storm is now forecast to move northeast while “gradually weakening”, before reaching the Yellow Sea on Tuesday and transforming into an extratropical cyclone, the Chinese weather service said. The provinces in its path across China’s east are likely to experience heavy downpours until Monday, it said. Warmer oceans In the Philippines, at least 18 people were killed in landslides and other incidents triggered by heavy rains driven by Bavi, most on the southern island of Mindanao. Nearly 11,000 people across the archipelago fled their homes, and dozens of ports remain closed. In northern Taiwan, more than 14,000 people were evacuated from their homes and hundreds of flights were cancelled. More than 170,000 households across the island were hit by power outages. In Japan, thousands of households and facilities across Okinawa also lost power. Oceans have 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 intensify tropical storms 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. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)