Nearly 3 million people evacuated as Typhoon Bavi batters eastern China

Typhoon Bavi, the most powerful storm to strike mainland China this year, brought heavy rain to its eastern coast on Sunday and lashed densely populated cities with violent winds, testing the nation’s ability to cope with extreme weather.

Bavi had weakened to a tropical storm by Sunday morning as it pushed inland but forecasters warned that the France-sized storm system could bring prolonged and widespread rainfall across eastern and northern China in the coming days.

More than 2.8 million people have been evacuated, according to a Reuters tally of figures reported by state media. Of those, over 2.2 million are in the economic and technological powerhouse of Zhejiang. There has been no official report of deaths or injuries.

Bavi struck Zhejiang’s coastal city of Yuhuan at around 11.20pm local time on Saturday before making a second landfall in Yueqing, part of the city of Wenzhou, at around midnight.

“The winds were very strong,” Yueqing resident Li Liangxing told Reuters. “We could hear roof tiles and tree branches falling. Of course we were scared, but we live by the sea, so we’re used to it.”

Gesturing towards a flooded canal beside his residential compound, Mr Li said he had never seen the water so high. “There used to be a walkway there, but now it’s underwater.”

More than 1,300 trees fell across Yueqing, with 700 of them ⁠uprooted entirely, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The deepest flooding reached roughly half the height of a vehicle tire.

Emergency crews on Sunday deployed excavators and chainsaws to clear waterlogged streets littered with fallen trees. In the city’s mountainous north, footage aired by ‌CCTV showed a landslide that sent large boulders tumbling onto a mountain road, while swollen river waters submerged nearby trees.

In Kanmen, a coastal fishing town in Yuhuan, 72-year-old parcel shop owner Lin Yongjin was counting the cost. His shop, which faces the sea, bore the brunt of the storm. Metal frames supporting the entrance canopy had ‌collapsed and a window in a neighbouring building had been blown out. Lin estimated the typhoon had caused ‌more than 6,000 yuan ($885) in damage.

“After it came ashore, there was nothing we could do. Rainwater poured into the house. We spent the whole night dealing with it and didn’t get to sleep until after 5am,” he said.

Having lived through many typhoons, Lin said this one stood out. “It was a very powerful typhoon. It made landfall right here in Kanmen. We were right in its path.”

Bavi passed northern Taiwan on ⁠Saturday, bringing strong winds and driving rain across much of the island. The storm dumped nearly 80cm of rain in one area in the northern county of Miaoli.

Taiwan’s fire department said on Sunday that at least 134 people had been injured, mainly from falling off motorbikes, slipping or being struck by objects. It reported no deaths.

The transport ministry said that 137 international flights had been cancelled on Sunday, along with 62 domestic trips.

The disruption extended to China’s transport networks. In Zhejiang’s provincial capital, Hangzhou, two major train stations suspended all services and 327 flights were cancelled at the Xiaoshan international airport.

In neighbouring Shanghai, a total of 1,620 train trips and 684 flights were cancelled, The Paper noted. By Sunday afternoon, Bavi had moved into eastern Anhui province and was forecast to turn northeast before entering the northern Yellow Sea on Tuesday, the National Meteorological Centre said.

The storm is expected to dump heavy to torrential rain across the provinces of Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui from Monday, exacerbating flooding risks in areas already reeling from earlier downpours.

In Hebei province’s Qianxi county, nearly 190mm of rain fell from Saturday to ‌Sunday morning.

Social media footage showed rescuers using an inflatable boat ⁠to reach people stranded atop a partially submerged car after floodwaters transformed a public square into a muddy lake.

Even as Bavi weakened after landfall, its large circulation could continue to generate destructive weather hundreds of kilometres inland, said Benjamin Horton, the dean of the school of energy and environment at the City University of Hong Kong.

Scientists warned China could face more ‌extreme weather this year with the expected emergence of ​the El Niño weather pattern, which could drive up temperatures and shift typhoon tracks towards the country’s coast.

“Rapid intensification of typhoons reduces preparation time for communities and emergency managers, making these events particularly challenging,” Mr Horton said.