China and Taiwan were bracing for possibly the most destructive tropical storm in years as Typhoon Bavi churned southeast of Taiwan on Thursday, 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, 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.
SEEKING SHELTER FROM THE STORM
In Taiwan’s northeastern port town Suao, hundreds of fishing boats packed the harbour seeking shelter from the coming storm, as residents queued for sandbags from the local authorities and farmers rushed to harvest rice while the weather held.
Chen Ming-hui, a 60-year-old captain of a 3-metric-ton fishing vessel, said he hoped the typhoon would track further north and avoid a direct hit, recalling how previous storms had sunk boats and flooded the fishing town.
“Don’t be fooled by the nice and calm weather now. A storm like this could be the most terrifying,” Chen said, inspecting the ropes tightened on his boat.
Roughly 111 km (68 miles) southwest of Suao, in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture, residents were warned by the country’s meteorological agency to remain on high alert on Friday and Saturday for violent winds, landslides, flooding and storm surges.
The remnants of Typhoon Maysak spawned at least two inland tornadoes and major flooding in China’s central Hubei province.
Two zebras, four porcupines, dozens of different types of parrots, a couple of North American raccoons, eight pheasants and various other animals – more than 100 in all – escaped from Guigang Zoo during the flooding, according to reports in Chinese state media.
Three lions at the zoo died in the floodwaters brought by Maysak, the Global Times reported. One sika deer was rescued by local villagers, Wang Liyuan, the zoo’s operator, was quoted as saying, while brown bears and wolves from the ‘beast zone’ were safe but in poor condition after nearly drowning.
BRACING FOR IMPACT
Japan Airlines said it had cancelled 48 domestic flights scheduled for Friday 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 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,” Feng added.