BEIJING — Typhoon Bavi made landfall in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang late Saturday night, prompting widespread evacuations and high-alert warnings.
Bavi, which was expected to weaken, according to China’s national weather center, previously brought strong winds and rain to Japan’s southern islands and Taiwan. It was the second typhoon to hit China in just over a week, after Maysak made landfall in southern China on July 3.
Chinese authorities had evacuated more than 1.7 million people as of Saturday and issued high alerts while eastern China braced for Bavi, which had maximum sustained winds of 89 mph near its center, the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane.
After passing north of Taiwan on Saturday and making landfall in the coastal city of Yuhuan in Zhejiang, Bavi is expected to move northwestward inland, the National Meteorological Center said.
Earlier, at least 17 people were killed in the southern Philippines, mostly due to landslides that were set off by seasonal monsoon rains that Bavi intensified before the typhoon blew away toward Taiwan, Philippine officials said Saturday.
Mass evacuations
Authorities in Zhejiang had evacuated more than 1.7 million people by Saturday morning, the official Xinhua News Agency said. By noon, Shanghai, also on China’s eastern coast, relocated about 34,000 residents from high-risk areas, according to Xinhua.
Southeastern Chinese cities near the coast prepared for the impacts. In Ningde in Fujian province, more than 3,700 people were relocated from high-risk onshore areas as of Friday evening, Xinhua said. Authorities in Fujian province placed more than 17,000 emergency rescue workers on standby.
China’s weather center issued an orange typhoon alert, the second-highest on a four-tier level, with many schools and ferry services suspended. Hundreds of flights have been canceled and some high-speed railway services halted.
The center on Saturday also issued the first red alert for rainstorms of the year, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Chinese authorities said Saturday they have allocated $5.9 million in central natural disaster relief funds to support Zhejiang and Fujian provinces’ typhoon prevention and emergency rescue and relief efforts.
Deadly landslides in Philippines
In the Philippines, a landslide set off by monsoon rains that Bavi intensified hit a village before dawn Friday in the coastal town of Malapatan in southern Sarangani province, killing at least 10 people and leaving three others missing, Office of Civil Defense spokesperson Diego Mariano said.
Another landslide in Calanogas town in southern Lanao del Sur province before dawn Friday killed five people, with six others missing, he said.
Two people drowned in floodwaters Wednesday in the southern province of Bukidnon, Mariano said, without providing details.
Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said about 11,000 villagers moved to 77 emergency shelters mostly in southern Philippine provinces in recent days because of the stormy weather.
Taiwan and Japan
As of 7 p.m. Saturday, Taiwanese authorities had recorded at least 113 injuries from Typhoon Bavi, some sustained while riding motorcycles in rain and winds on slippery roads.
More than 14,200 people had been evacuated around the island, including from the eastern county of Hualien and the central city of Taichung. Schools and offices in most parts of Taiwan were suspended Saturday.
Across Japan’s southern islands in the prefecture of Okinawa, local authorities earlier warned of high waves, strong winds and storm surges, with more than 200 flights canceled across the region, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. Strong winds and rain had hit islands including Ishigaki.
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