Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from areas of eastern China as a powerful typhoon – the country’s second in a week – barrels towards the coast.
Typhoon Bavi, which spans 1,000km (620 miles) at its widest point – roughly the width of France – is expected to make landfall near the major city of Wenzhou on Sunday morning.
After pummelling a chain of remote Japanese islands, it brought heavy rainfall to Taiwan as it brushed past its northern tip. Earlier landslides triggered by the storm killed 17 people in the Philippines.
Though it has weakened to a Category 1 typhoon, it still presents a risk because of the huge volume of moisture within its rain bands.
Bavi is forecast to bring “exceptionally heavy rains” to eastern Zhejiang province and northeastern Fujian province, the authorities said, adding that evacuations were “undertaken entirely to guard against the [worst-case] scenario”.
The city of Wenzhou, home to around 10 million people, is close to the path of the storm.
Bavi began as a super typhoon, battering Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands last Monday with wind speeds of 290km/h (180mph).
As it made its way through the Pacific, weakening to 144 km/h winds, it struck the Sakishima islands, part of Japan’s Ryukyu island chain between the country’s main islands and Taiwan. At least five people were injured and thousands were without power.
Taiwan itself did not receive a direct hit but thousands of people were forced to leave their homes and there was a danger of landslides after heavy rain. Neither country has reported any deaths.