Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from eastern China as Typhoon Bavi, a large and powerful storm, nears landfall. Spanning approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) at its widest point—roughly the width of France—Bavi is expected to make landfall near the major city of Wenzhou on Sunday morning. Wenzhou is home to around 10 million people and lies close to the storm's projected path.
Bavi began as a super typhoon, striking Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands last Monday with wind speeds reaching 290 km/h (180 mph). As it moved through the Pacific, it weakened to a Category 1 typhoon with winds of 144 km/h before hitting the Sakishima islands, part of Japan's Ryukyu island chain between the main islands of Japan and Taiwan.
The storm brought heavy rainfall to Taiwan as it brushed past its northern tip, forcing thousands to evacuate due to landslide risks. Earlier, landslides triggered by the storm in the Philippines resulted in 17 fatalities.
Despite its downgrade to Category 1, Bavi remains dangerous due to the large volume of moisture in its rain bands. Authorities in eastern Zhejiang province and northeastern Fujian province have forecast "exceptionally heavy rains" and have undertaken evacuations "entirely to guard against the [worst-case] scenario," according to local officials.
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