China evacuates 1.8 million as Typhoon Bavi nears Wenzhou

China moved more than 1.8 million people out of harm's way Saturday as Typhoon Bavi churned toward the eastern city of Wenzhou, following a path that had already lashed southern Japan and brushed past Taiwan's northern coast.

At peak intensity, Bavi had sustained winds reaching up to 144 kph, putting it in Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, while its centre was positioned some 200 km away from the southeast side of Wenling in Zhejiang Province at the time of early Saturday morning.

Despite weakening in speed, as well as in strength due to the cooler water temperature, experts noted that the bands of rain associated with it are almost as long as those of France, posing a high risk for flooding despite the reduction in wind speed. Its landfall near Wenzhou, which has a population of around 10 million, is expected by Sunday.

State-owned media put the number of evacuees in the Zhejiang province at over 1.7 million and 100,000 additional evacuees in the neighbouring Fujian province.

Huang Xinghuan, aged 50, a resident of Wenzhou, said his family had made provisions for a few days' worth of drinking water and said, "We've been through typhoons before. We'll get through it."

Taiwan has evacuated more than 14,000 people from mountainous areas, cancelling 920 international and 282 domestic flights, due to which Taoyuan International Airport closed for the day. The forecasters had warned that there would be almost a metre of rainfall in certain areas.

Neither Taiwan nor Japan recorded any fatalities in connection with Bavi. However, in Taiwan, there were 87 cases of injury due to falls. The Philippines had suffered most because of the storm and the monsoons, which caused 17 deaths.