Chinese authorities evacuated more than 1 million people on Saturday (July 11, 2026) and issued high alerts as eastern China braced for Typhoon Bavi, which has brought strong winds and rain to Japan’s southern islands and Taiwan.

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 on Saturday (July 11, 2026).

With maximum sustained winds of 144 kph (89 mph) near its centre, Bavi is passing north of Taiwan on Saturday (July 11, 2026), according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration. It is expected to move toward Zhejiang in eastern China and, according to China’s National Meteorological Center, make landfall before midnight or in the early hours of Sunday (July 12, 2026) and then move inland.

China evacuates over 1.7 million people

Authorities in the Zhejiang province have evacuated more than 1.7 million people as of Saturday morning, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Shanghai, also on China’s eastern coast, relocated around 34,000 residents from high-risk areas by Saturday noon (July 11, 2026), according to Xinhua.

In southeastern China, cities near the coast are preparing for the impacts of Bavi. In the city of Ningde in Fujian province, more than 3,700 people were relocated from high-risk onshore areas as of Friday evening (July 10, 2026), Xinhua said. Authorities in Fujian province have placed over 17,000 emergency rescue workers on standby.

China’s National Meteorological 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 cancelled, and some high-speed railway services halted.

The centre on Saturday (July 11, 2026) also issued the first red alert for rainstorms of the year, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Chinese authorities said on Saturday (July 11, 2026) they have allocated 40 million yuan ($5.9 million) in central natural disaster relief funds to support Zhejiang and Fujian provinces’ typhoon prevention and emergency rescue and relief efforts.

Typhoon Bavi pummelled Japan’s southern Sakishima island chain with heavy rain and ‌violent winds on Saturday (July 11, 2026) as it headed towards ​Taiwan, prompting authorities to warn of flooding risks ⁠and landslides.

On Friday (July 10, 2026), 15 people were killed in landslides in the Philippines and thousands in Taiwan were evacuated from their homes as the biggest typhoon in decades neared the region.

On the island of Japan’s Ishigaki, part of Okinawa prefecture, small pieces of debris could be seen flying across empty streets, with only ‌a scattering of vehicles braving the gale and rain. Boats at a local harbour rocked in ‌the strong currents brought on by the large and ‌strong ⁠storm, which had maximum sustained winds of 144 kph (90 ⁠mph) near its centre. Authorities issued a warning of gusts reaching up to 198 kph.

Flights and ferry services across Ishigaki, a popular tourist destination, remained ​suspended for all of ‌Saturday (July 11, 2026).

In neighbouring Taiwan, the government evacuated more than 14,000 people from mainly mountainous areas as the island shut down for the approach of Bavi to the north.

While Bavi, ‌which is gradually weakening, will not make landfall on Taiwan, ​the government is taking all precautions to prevent loss of life, given forecasts for almost 1 ⁠metre (3.3 feet) of rain in some areas.

Most of those evacuated were in areas in the north and east, with 917 international ‌flights cancelled as well as all 274 domestic flights.

Almost all cities and counties across Taiwan declared a typhoon holiday for Saturday (July 11, 2026), closing any offices and schools that may have been open on the weekend. The main north-south high speed rail line remained open, but with a reduced service.

In the ‌capital Taipei, there was blustery wind and rain with some people still ​out on the street.

“It’s OK, it’s not that serious,” said Taipei resident Yeh Mao-hsiung, 68, out ⁠for a morning walk with his dog. “It’s just a little bit ⁠more wind.”

After passing by Taiwan to the northeast, Bavi is forecast to hit the eastern Chinese city ‌of Wenzhou, home to 10 million people, early on Sunday (July 12, 2026).

Landslides kill 15 in Philippines

Two landslides triggered by heavy rains driven by Bavi killed at least 15 people and left six others missing on the Philippines’ southern island of Mindanao, authorities said.

Locals in Taiwan’s port city of Keelung, which is expected to be one of the hardest hit areas on the island, stocked up on food, taped windows and stacked sandbags along shopfronts, heeding warnings from authorities to take precautions.

After hitting Guam and the Northern Marianas on Monday as a super typhoon, Bavi was downgraded to a typhoon as it moved across the Pacific Ocean.

Bavi’s maximum sustained wind speeds slowed to 155 kilometres (96 miles) per hour, with gusts of around 190 kilometres per hour, on Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

“From tonight through daytime tomorrow will be the period when the typhoon is closest to Taiwan and its impact will be the most significant,” CWA forecaster Liao Chwen-huey said.

Bavi’s strong-wind radius of 380 kilometres will make it the largest typhoon to hit Taiwan in more than 30 years.

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.