Chinese emergency services have executed a massive displacement effort, evacuating over two million people across eastern coastal areas after Typhoon Bavi made two separate landfalls in quick succession.
The colossal storm system, spanning roughly 620 miles at its widest point, first struck near the coastal city of Yuhuan on Saturday evening before moving slightly north to carve a second path near Yueqing, under the jurisdiction of Wenzhou, just past midnight.
Though local weather bureaus reported that Bavi has since weakened into a severe tropical storm as it moves inland toward the northwest, meteorological experts warn that the system’s immense rain bands continue to pose severe flooding and landslide risks.
Ahead of the direct hit, authorities in Zhejiang province alone coordinated the evacuation of more than 1.7 million residents, while neighboring industrial and urban hubs like Shanghai and Fujian province relocated an additional several hundred thousand individuals from low-lying zones.
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In cities like Wenzhou, home to ten million people, residents reported terrifying conditions as the powerful winds sheared off roof tiles and toppled over 1,300 trees across the area, leading to more than 130 reported injuries from falling objects and slippery roads.
The multi-province disruption has effectively paralyzed localized transit networks, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of high-speed rail lines and more than a thousand commercial flights across major regional airports. Public spaces, construction sites, and schools have been ordered to suspend operations as the storm moves toward Anhui province and the Shandong Peninsula.
The current crisis arrives just days after the region was pummeled by Typhoon Maysak, an earlier storm that left at least 39 people dead, caused catastrophic agricultural damage, and spawned severe tornadoes in Hubei province.
Before advancing onto mainland China, Bavi originally formed as a violent Category 5-equivalent super typhoon in the Pacific, battering Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands with devastating 180-mile-per-hour winds that heavily damaged regional infrastructure.
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As the cyclone veered through the Ryukyu island chain and past Taiwan, it triggered massive downpours, forced thousands to stock up on emergency provisions, and touched off landslides in the Philippines that claimed at least 17 lives.
