China, Taiwan brace for Typhoon Bavi, possibly the most powerful storm in years

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 forecast that up to one metre (3.3 feet) of rain ⁠will hit the island's northern mountains around Taipei and some 29,000 soldiers have been placed on standby, the defence ministry said, as it braces for what could be its most powerful typhoon since Kong-rey in 2024, which killed three people.

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.

Storms of this size have been "fairly rare in recent years," Jason Chang, Taiwan's Central Weather Administration forecaster, told Reuters, adding that Bavi is set to be the largest storm by size to hit the island since 1987.

Rescue workers in China were still combing through wreckage left by ⁠Typhoon Maysak, which killed at least 39 people as it swept through the southwestern region of Guangxi earlier this week, local officials told a news conference on Thursday. Nine people remained missing across the region, they added.

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.

"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, an expert at AccuWeather, a commercial forecasting service.

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, the country's meteorological agency warned residents 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.

A shopper selects vegetables from partially depleted shelves at a supermarket as residents stock up on supplies ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Bavi in Taipei, Taiwan. File / Reuters

In the worst-hit towns in the Guangxi region, residents were trying to piece their lives back together before the next storm hits. Footage broadcast by state media showed people clambering out of second-storey windows onto the backs of rescue workers to escape their apartments and pulling belongings from floodwaters, while aid workers deployed drones to deliver essentials to inaccessible areas.

Rows and rows of dead pigs lay on their backs at a farm in Binyang County in images published by Beijing News, their bloated bodies mottled grey and already decomposing after being submerged for two days, the report said.

Three lions at Guigang Zoo died in floodwaters brought by Maysak, China's Global Times reported, ⁠while 100 animals - including two zebras, four porcupines, dozens of parrots and two North American raccoons - were still missing, according to Wang Liyuan, the zoo's operator.

Bracing for impact

Japan Airlines said it had cancelled 48 domestic flights and two international flights scheduled for Friday because of the typhoon, affecting an estimated 7,610 passengers.

All Nippon Airways 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.

Reuters