China evacuates more than one million people as region braces for Typhoon Bavi

Chinese authorities evacuated more than one million people on Saturday 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 because of landslides that were set off by seasonal monsoon rains that Bavi intensified before the typhoon blew away toward Taiwan, Philippine officials said.

With maximum sustained winds of 89 mph near its centre, Bavi is passing north of Taiwan on Saturday, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration.

It is expected to move toward Zhejiang in eastern China and, according to China’s National Meteorological Centre, make landfall before midnight or in the early hours of Sunday and then move inland.

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 about 34,000 residents from high-risk areas by Saturday noon, according to Xinhua.

In the city of 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 have placed over 17,000 emergency rescue workers on standby.

China’s National Meteorological Centre 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 also issued the first red alert for rainstorms of the year, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In the Philippines, a landslide set off by monsoon rains that Bavi intensified hit a village before dawn on Friday in the coastal town of Malapatan in southern Sarangani province, killing at least 10 villagers and leaving three others missing, Office of Civil Defence spokesman Diego Mariano said.

A separate landslide in Calanogas town in southern Lanao del Sur province before dawn on Friday killed five people, with six others missing, he said.

Two people drowned in floodwaters Wednesday in the southern province of Bukidnon.

Office of Civil Defence deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro said about 11,000 villagers moved to 77 emergency shelters mostly in southern Philippine provinces in recent days because of the stormy weather.

As of Saturday at 8am, Taiwanese authorities registered at least 87 injuries from Typhoon Bavi, some sustained while riding motorcycles in rain and wind on slippery roads.

More than 14,200 people had also 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 on Saturday.

Across Japan’s southern islands in the prefecture of Okinawa, authorities have warned of high waves, strong winds and storm surges, with more than 200 flights cancelled across the region, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. Strong winds and rain have hit islands including Ishigaki.