Typhoon Bavi forces China to evacuate nearly a million people

China is bracing for the impact of Typhoon Bavi, with nearly one million people evacuated from their homes as the storm barrels toward the country's eastern coast. The typhoon is forecast to make landfall early Sunday morning in the vicinity of Wenzhou, a metropolis of nearly 10 million residents in the eastern Zhejiang province.

Local authorities reported that approximately 880,000 people had been evacuated from Zhejiang by Friday evening. In Beijing, authorities stated that over 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes due to heavy rainfall in the northern part of the country. This extreme weather has already caused devastation in southern and central China earlier in the week, with storms and floods claiming at least 39 lives and leaving several people missing.

On Taiwan, more than 1100 domestic and international flights have been canceled, and ferry services have been suspended. Over 14,000 residents have been evacuated from mountainous areas due to the risk of landslides. While the outer bands of the typhoon have reached northern and eastern Taiwan, authorities have not reported significant damage so far. Around 68,920 households experienced temporary power outages on Friday due to heavy rain and wind damaging the power grid.

The typhoon also reached Japan's Okinawa prefecture with heavy rainfall and strong winds. Meanwhile, the Philippines reported at least 17 fatalities from landslides triggered by intense rainfall, with nine individuals still unaccounted for. After causing significant damage to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands as a super typhoon on Monday, Bavi weakened to a typhoon during its journey across the Pacific Ocean.