By Akio Wang with Joy Chiang in New Taipei City
Hundreds of people in Taiwan have been evacuated from their homes, and many schools and offices have closed, after the biggest typhoon in decades swept through the region on Friday.
Typhoon Bavi is expected to hit northern and eastern Taiwan, as well as Japan’s remote southwestern islands, on Friday and Saturday before hitting China, which has been battered by deadly storms this week.
Locals in the port city of Keelung, which is expected to be one of the worst-hit areas, stocked up on food, taped-up windows and sandbagged entrances to street-level businesses, heeding warnings from authorities to take precautions.
“We are worried,” said Samuel Fu, who works at a noodle shop in the coastal district of Bali, near Taipei.
“This is the first time we have experienced such a big typhoon… since we opened the shop,” 20-year-old Fu told AFP.
“The table and awning at the front can be removed. If the winds pick up, we’ll bring everything inside.”
After hitting Guam and the Northern Marianas on Monday as a super typhoon, Bavi downgraded to a typhoon as it moved across the Pacific Ocean.
Bavi’s maximum sustained wind speed was 162 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, with gusts of about 198 kilometers per hour, on Friday – slower than Thursday – the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
“The typhoon is likely to continue to weaken because the environmental conditions are not favorable,” said CWA forecaster Wang Ping-hsiang.
“The biggest impact is expected in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Yilan, while the heaviest rainfall is predicted for mountainous areas in central and northern Taiwan.
Bavi’s strong wind beam of 380 kilometers (240 miles) will make it the largest typhoon to hit Taiwan in more than 30 years.
Many schools and offices were closed on Friday across northern and eastern Taiwan, including Taipei.
In Keelung, locals flocked to a fresh food market to buy fruit and vegetables, street food vendors secured their stands and a temple covered and tied up an outdoor statue ahead of the storm.
‘Strong winds and heavy rain’
Bavi is expected to receive up to one meter of rain, raising concerns about possible flooding and landslides.
More than a thousand people have been evacuated from their homes, mostly in the mountainous Hualien County in eastern Taiwan, where authorities are monitoring two barrier dams.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te called on people in areas likely to be most affected by Bavi to remain on “high alert”.
“Although the typhoon has weakened slightly and is now classified as a moderate typhoon, its broad wind field may still bring strong winds and heavy rain to various areas,” Lai said on Facebook.
After passing Taiwan, Bavi is expected to make landfall in eastern China over the weekend.
Extreme weather has already wreaked havoc in southern and central China this week, with storms leaving at least 39 dead and causing dozens of rivers to overflow and a reservoir dam to burst.
