Typhoon Bavi made landfall in Taizhou, eastern China, late Saturday after authorities evacuated nearly 2 million people from Zhejiang and other regions, state media reported.
The storm struck at about 11:20 p.m. local time, or 8:20 p.m. Pakistan time, with sustained winds near 144 kilometres per hour, according to China’s National Meteorological Centre.
More than 1.7 million people were left vulnerable in Zhejiang province. Authorities also evacuated over 100,000 people each from Fujian and Beijing, along with about 34,000 from Shanghai.
Although Bavi weakened as it moved northwest, forecasters warned that its broad rain bands still carried substantial moisture and posed a flooding risk.
The storm earlier passed near northern Taiwan and Japan’s Sakishima island chain. Taiwan evacuated more than 14,000 people, mainly from mountainous areas, and cancelled 920 international and 282 domestic flights.
Taiwan’s fire department reported 113 injuries, mostly involving falls or wind-blown objects. No deaths were reported in Taiwan or Japan.
Read: Typhoon Bavi Forces 600,000 Evacuations in China
In the Philippines, 17 people died after heavy rain from an enhanced southwest monsoon worsened by Bavi.
Taiwan also closed schools and offices across most cities and counties, while its main high-speed railway continued to operate at limited capacity.
