Typhoon Bavi was moving toward China's east coast Friday with sustained winds near 162 kilometers per hour, prompting evacuations and transport disruptions before a forecast landfall near the Fujian-Zhejiang border south of Shanghai. The storm was expected to pass north of Taiwan first, bringing heavy rain and rough seas. Taipei closed schools, fishing vessels sheltered in port and airlines canceled multiple regional flights. Forecast tracks can shift, but the broad preparation zone reflected the storm's size and the potential for damaging rainfall as well as wind.
Chinese authorities said more than 17,000 people had been evacuated in Zhejiang and roughly 170,000 rescue workers were placed on standby. Fujian suspended some ferry routes and ordered fishing boats back to port. Those actions are designed to reduce the most preventable deaths: people trapped in low-lying areas, mariners caught at sea and motorists entering flooded roads. The hardest operational question is how reservoirs, rivers and urban drainage respond if heavy rain falls over ground already saturated by earlier storms.
Bavi follows a destructive week. Officials reported 39 deaths from flooding associated with Tropical Storm Maysak in Guangxi, where record rain damaged reservoirs and a partial dam collapse sent muddy water through populated areas. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes killed 11 more people in Hubei. A separate landslide in Gansu killed 21 forestry workers, though authorities said that event was not storm-related. The distinct causes should not be collapsed into one disaster count, but together they have stretched emergency capacity across several provinces.
Official Chinese reports provide the main early numbers, and independent access to some disaster zones can be limited. Casualty totals, evacuation figures and infrastructure damage may be revised. Still, the visible measures before Bavi's arrival—school closures, port restrictions, evacuations and large standby teams—show that authorities recognize the compound risk. The test is whether orders are timely, shelters are accessible and local officials have enough flexibility when conditions differ from the central forecast.
Attention should stay on the final track, rainfall totals, dam and levee performance, and the restoration of power and transport. After landfall, separating verified damage from social-media imagery will be essential because recycled storm footage often circulates during major typhoons.