China evacuates 1.7 million as Typhoon Bavi approaches eastern coast
Chinese authorities evacuated more than 1.7 million people on Saturday, July 11, 2026, as Typhoon Bavi approached the country's eastern coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rain to the region. The National Meteorological Center issued an orange typhoon alert, the second-highest level, and a red alert for rainstorms, the first of the year.
According to the official Xinhua News Agency, Zhejiang province evacuated more than 1.7 million residents by Saturday morning. Shanghai relocated around 34,000 people from high-risk areas by noon on Saturday. In Fujian province, more than 3,700 people were moved from coastal areas, and over 17,000 emergency rescue workers were placed on standby.
Schools and ferry services were suspended, hundreds of flights cancelled, and some high-speed railway services halted as a precaution. The central government allocated 40 million yuan ($5.9 million) in disaster relief funds to Zhejiang and Fujian provinces for typhoon prevention and emergency response.
Typhoon Bavi, with maximum sustained winds of 144 km/h (89 mph) near its centre, passed north of Taiwan on Saturday, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Administration. It was expected to make landfall in Zhejiang before midnight or early Sunday, July 12, and then move inland.
Earlier, at least 17 people were killed in the southern Philippines, mostly from landslides triggered by seasonal monsoon rains that Bavi intensified before moving toward Taiwan, Philippine officials reported on Saturday.
