JAKARTA - Combined reports showed at least 2,868,400 people were relocated before Typhoon Bavi struck eastern China on July 11.
Chinese government-owned news portal Xinhua reported on July 12 that Zhejiang authorities had relocated 2.68 million people and opened more than 19,000 emergency shelters by 7 p.m. on July 11. The Fujian provincial government separately recorded 188,400 people transferred from dangerous areas by 5 p.m. that day.
Bavi first made landfall in Yuhuan, Zhejiang, at about 11:20 p.m. on July 11, with maximum winds near its centre reaching 40 metres per second. It came ashore again around midnight in Yueqing, part of Wenzhou, before weakening and moving inland toward Anhui.
Transport disruption spread through major eastern cities. Hangzhou’s two main railway stations suspended all services, and Xiaoshan International Airport cancelled 327 flights. Shanghai recorded 1,620 cancelled train trips and 684 cancelled flights, according to figures cited in a July 12 Reuters report.
Zhang Shanshan, a worker responsible for a temporary shelter in Yueqing, said, “Windows and doors had been reinforced, with wooden boards placed outside the glass doors and sandbags stacked on both sides for extra protection.”
The shelter housed more than 500 people, many from construction sites closed before the storm arrived.
Zhejiang shut 830 construction sites, more than 400 scenic areas and over 200 amusement facilities considered high risk. Xinhua said rainfall above 50 millimetres covered about 42% of the province during the 24 hours reported on July 12. It described Bavi as the strongest July typhoon to strike Zhejiang since 1949.
Before reaching China, Bavi crossed the US Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. NASA Earth Observatory reported on July 9 that the cyclone reached Category 5 intensity and produced winds of about 290 kilometres per hour near the islands on July 5.
Bavi later crossed Japan’s Sakishima Islands and passed north of Taiwan, where authorities reported 134 injuries and no deaths.
China’s Ministry of Water Resources raised its flood alert to yellow as heavy rain threatened river flooding, mountain torrents and urban waterlogging. The central government had already allocated 100 million yuan for repairs in Zhejiang and sent 70,000 relief items to Zhejiang, Tianjin and Anhui.
