A powerful typhoon was heading toward China’s east coast on Friday (July 10, 2026), the latest in a series of deadly storms that have already claimed 50 lives this week in two other parts of the country.

Typhoon Bavi, with maximum sustained winds of 155 kph (96 mph), was first expected to pass north of Taiwan, bringing heavy rains to the island of 23 million people from Friday night (July 10, 2026) into Saturday (July 11, 2026).

Schools were closed on Friday (July 10, 2026) in Taipei, the island’s capital, and fishing boats have been tied up close together in ports in northern Taiwan. Many flights to Japan, Hong Kong and other destinations have been cancelled through Saturday (July 11, 2026), though some were still scheduled, Taiwan’s Central News Agency said.

The typhoon’s current northwest track would take it over some remote Japanese islands before passing north of Taiwan on Saturday. It is forecast to make landfall in China on Saturday night (July 11, 2026) south of Shanghai, near the border between Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

More than 17,000 people have been evacuated in Zhejiang and 170,000 rescue workers placed on standby, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Fujian has suspended some ferry routes because of strong winds and rough seas and called for fishing boats to return to port.

Bavi has weakened from supertyphoon strength earlier this week, when it brought violent winds to Saipan and other U.S. territories in the Pacific.

In southern China, authorities announced on Thursday (July 9, 2026) that 39 people had died in flooding from Tropical Storm Maysak, which drenched parts of the Guangxi region for days with record rainfall.

The rains breached reservoirs, including the dramatic collapse of part of a dam in Hengzhou that inundated a wide area with fast-flowing muddy water. The floods stranded people on the second and higher floors of buildings for days, many without power, until rescuers could reach them.

Another 11 people died in central China when severe thunderstorms and tornadoes wreaked havoc in Hubei province on Monday night (July 6, 2026).

Separately, a landslide killed 21 forestry workers in western China’s Gansu province on Tuesday (July 7, 2026) in a disaster that was not storm-related.

China is still reeling from Typhoon Maysak with 39 killed in flooding ‌caused by the storm in Guangxi; nine others still missing

China and Taiwan were bracing for possibly ‌the most destructive tropical storm in years as Typhoon Bavi churned southeast of Taiwan on Thursday (July 9, 2026), with winds ​near 200 kph (124 mph), and as parts of China were still reeling from Typhoon Maysak.

Authorities in Taiwan ⁠urged residents to stock up on supplies and brace for what could be the most powerful typhoon to hit the island since 2024.

Bavi, currently about 1,000 km (621 miles) at its widest point or roughly the width of France, is forecast to skirt northern Taiwan before making landfall in ‌China’s eastern Fujian province on Saturday evening (July 11, 2026), according to China’s National Meteorological Centre.

China is still reeling from Typhoon Maysak, which wreaked havoc across the southwestern region of Guangxi. At least 39 people died due to the flooding ‌caused by the storm in Guangxi, local officials told a news conference on Thursday. Nine people are still missing across ‌the ⁠region, they added.

Bavi is set to be the largest storm by size to hit Taiwan since 1987, ⁠Jason Chang, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration forecaster, told Reuters, adding that storms of this size have been “fairly rare in recent years”.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, along with neighbouring Japan and Taiwan, are increasingly exposed to destructive weather events that scientists link to climate change. This year is of particular concern because the expected emergence ​of El Nino could drive up temperatures and ‌help fuel more frequent and intense typhoons.

If Bavi maintains its forecast intensity, it would be the most powerful typhoon, as hurricanes are known in the Asia-Pacific region, since Super Typhoon Kong-rey in 2024, according to AccuWeather, a commercial weather forecasting service.

“Some loss of wind intensity is anticipated starting Thursday, but Bavi will remain a dangerous storm as it impacts Taiwan and eastern China ‌later Friday into Monday,” according to Jason Nicholls, AccuWeather international forecasting expert.

Bracing for impact

Japan Airlines said it had cancelled 48 domestic flights ⁠scheduled for Friday (July 10, 2026) because of the typhoon, affecting an estimated 7,610 passengers.

ANA said it would cancel 34 flights mainly serving Okinawa’s Ishigaki and ⁠Miyako airports, affecting around 1,800 passengers on Friday, with 33 further domestic flights set to be cancelled on Saturday (July 11) impacting 5,900 people.

“We should pay much attention to Bavi as it has spent a long time intensifying over the ‌open Pacific, extracting energy from warm ocean and accumulating large amounts of moisture,” said Xiangbo Feng, research scientist in tropical cyclones at Imperial College London.

“When it would make landfall or get close to coastal regions, the damage could be catastrophic. A ​small change in Bavi’s track could have a significant influence,” Mr. Feng added.