Typhoon Bavi struck eastern China on Saturday night as the year's most powerful storm to hit the mainland, forcing the evacuation of nearly 2 million people and triggering massive transport disruptions across two of Asia's most economically vital regions.
The storm made two landfalls in Zhejiang province—first in the coastal city of Yuhuan around 11:20 p.m. on Saturday, then in Yueqing near Wenzhou around midnight. By Sunday morning, it had weakened to a tropical storm while pushing inland, but forecasters warned the France-sized system could unleash prolonged rainfall across eastern and northern China in the coming days.
In Taiwan, the storm passed north of the island on Saturday, injuring 134 people. Taiwan's fire department reported the injuries were mainly from falling off motorbikes, slipping, or being struck by objects. No deaths were recorded. The transport ministry reported 137 international flights cancelled on Sunday, along with 62 domestic trips.
The Scale of Disruption
The economic cost is already substantial. In Shanghai, authorities cancelled 1,620 train trips and 684 flights, according to state-backed The Paper. Hangzhou, Zhejiang's provincial capital, saw two major train stations suspend all services, with 327 flights cancelled at Xiaoshan International Airport. The cascading effect across China's transport networks underscores how weather events can rapidly destabilize critical infrastructure and commerce across entire regions.
On the ground in Yueqing, the physical damage tells the story of the storm's force. More than 1,300 trees fell across the city, with more than 700 uprooted entirely, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Emergency crews deployed excavators and chainsaws on Sunday to clear waterlogged streets. In the city's mountainous north, footage showed a landslide sending large boulders onto a mountain road while swollen river waters submerged nearby trees. One resident, Li Liangxing, described the experience: "When it made landfall last night, the winds were very strong. We could hear roof tiles and tree branches falling. Of course we were scared, but we live by the sea, so we're used to it." He noted that flooding had reached unprecedented levels near his residential compound. "There used to be a walkway there, but now it's underwater," he said.
In Taiwan's northern Miaoli county, the storm dumped nearly 80 centimeters—31 inches—of rain in a single area, demonstrating the extreme precipitation these systems can generate in concentrated zones.
Looking Ahead: Compounding Risks
Benjamin Horton, dean of the School of Energy and Environment at the City University of Hong Kong, warned that regions near Bavi's path could receive several hundred millimeters of rain over the next few days. "Even if the storm weakens after landfall, its large circulation can continue to generate destructive weather hundreds of kilometres inland," Horton said. He also noted that rapid intensification of typhoons "reduces preparation time for communities and emergency managers, making these events particularly challenging."
Scientists have warned that China could face more extreme weather this year with the expected emergence of the El Niño weather pattern, which can drive up temperatures and shift typhoon tracks westward toward the country's coast. This compounds the challenge facing emergency managers and local governments already stretched thin by this year's conditions.
The evacuation of nearly 2 million people—mostly in Zhejiang province—represents one of the largest pre-storm mobilizations in recent memory. While such evacuations prevent loss of life, they also impose enormous logistical and financial burdens on provincial authorities and disrupt economic activity across multiple sectors.
Why This Matters:
Typhoon Bavi exposes the vulnerability of densely populated, economically critical regions to natural disasters—and the enormous costs governments must bear to manage them. The cancellation of over 2,300 flights and 1,600+ train trips in Shanghai and Hangzhou alone illustrates how weather disruptions ripple through supply chains and commerce. The evacuation of 2 million people requires massive state resources and coordination. These events highlight why infrastructure resilience, emergency preparedness, and market-driven adaptation mechanisms matter enormously for economic stability. They also underscore the limits of government planning: even with advanced forecasting, the scale and speed of natural disasters can overwhelm response capacity. For policymakers, the lesson is clear—investment in resilient infrastructure and private-sector preparedness often delivers better outcomes than reactive government intervention after disasters strike.