Typhoon Bavi was downgraded to a severe tropical storm on Sunday after making landfall in eastern China, where authorities had evacuated about two million people in its path.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Before reaching China, the storm hit northern Taiwan and Japan’s remote southwestern islands, toppling trees and leaving tens of thousands without power.
Extreme weather wreaked havoc in southern and central China last week, with storms leaving at least 39 dead and causing dozens of rivers to overflow and a reservoir to burst.
Bavi first made landfall around 11:20 p.m. (1520 GMT) Saturday in Zhejiang province, packing winds of 144 kilometers (90 miles) per hour, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the provincial meteorological observatory.
“The main impact area experienced strong winds and heavy, fast-flowing rain that formed on the ground and roadside trees were uprooted,” national television station CCTV reported as Bavi hit the city of Yuhuan.
Around 5:00 a.m. Sunday, its intensity weakened to strong tropical storm levels, the China Meteorological Administration said.
The eye of the storm was close to the main commercial center of Yiwu and is now expected to move northwest, he added, warning of strong winds 11 with speeds of about 108 kilometers per hour.
Officials in Zhejiang province are predicting torrential rains in coastal regions and the possibility of flash floods, transportation disruptions, rivers overflowing their banks and inundation of farmland, Xinhua said.
About 1.72 million people have been evacuated to safe places by authorities since Saturday morning, Xinhua said.
Suspended activities
Ahead of the storm’s arrival, classes, work, transportation and outdoor activities were suspended and more than 400 flights and dozens of train services were canceled in the province.
“Proactive, all-out mobilization, which spares no effort or cost, is undertaken entirely to guard against the (worst-case) scenario,” the government in Wenzhou, a metropolis of nearly 10 million people in Zhejiang, said in a statement.
Residents used planks to reinforce metal shutters protecting shops and taped up windows, with Bavi forecast to bring “extremely heavy rains” to eastern Zhejiang and northeastern Fujian province, CCTV footage showed.
Torrential rain further north prompted the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from their homes in Beijing, the government said, as water leaks from the capital’s Miyun Reservoir increased to catch potential floodwaters.
More than 130,000 people have fled their homes in Fujian and about 34,000 people from Shanghai’s coastal areas and high-risk areas, state media reported.
Bavi had been downgraded to a typhoon as it moved across the Pacific Ocean after slamming into Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on Monday as a super typhoon.
The death toll rises
In the Philippines, the death toll from landslides and other incidents triggered by heavy rains triggered by Bavi rose to 18, most in the southern island of Mindanao.
Nearly 11,000 people across the archipelago fled their homes and dozens of ports remain closed, with 313 ships taking shelter.
Bavi had been on track on Friday to be the biggest typhoon to hit Taiwan in more than 30 years, but its powerful wind radius had shrunk to 350 kilometers, CWA forecaster Jason Cheng said.
In northern Taiwan, more than 14,000 people were evacuated from their homes, hundreds of flights were canceled and more than 170,000 households across the island were hit with power outages due to the storm.
The Central Taiwan Weather Administration (CWA) had warned of “extremely torrential rain” in northern Taiwan and “dangerous waves” of up to 10 meters along the coast as Bavi swept across the island’s north.
Thousands of homes and facilities across Okinawa also lost power as the typhoon battered Japan’s remote southwestern islands, with the Miyako region hardest hit.
The oceans experienced their hottest June on record and could set new highs in the coming months, the European Union’s Copernicus Marine Service said last week.
Warmer oceans intensify tropical storms and add more moisture, which can fall as heavy rain.
Adding to the mix is the return this year of El Nino, a natural climate phenomenon that warms the surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean and typically occurs every two to seven years.
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