Typhoon Bavi Makes Landfall in Eastern China After Sweeping Through Philippines, Japan, and Taiwan

Typhoon Bavi made landfall in Zhejiang province, eastern China, late on July 11, 2026, with maximum sustained winds of approximately 144 km/h near its center. The storm's path took it through Japan's southern Sakishima island chain and past northern Taiwan before striking the Chinese coast. After making landfall, Bavi was downgraded to a severe tropical storm or tropical storm, with further weakening expected as it moved inland.

At least 17–18 people were killed in the Philippines, primarily due to landslides triggered by seasonal monsoon rains that Typhoon Bavi intensified. Nearly 11,000 people across the Philippines fled to emergency shelters due to the typhoon-related weather. Neither Japan nor Taiwan reported any deaths from the storm.

More than 14,000 people were evacuated in Taiwan, mainly from mountainous and coastal areas. Taiwan reported between 87 and 134 injuries from Typhoon Bavi, primarily from falls off motorcycles, slipping, or being struck by objects. The variation in injury figures reflects different reporting timestamps as authorities updated their counts.

Typhoon Bavi began as a super typhoon and struck Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands around July 6–7 before weakening as it moved westward across the Pacific. At its widest point, the storm's rain band system spanned approximately 1,000 km—roughly the width of France. The typhoon was initially forecast to be potentially the largest to hit Taiwan in more than 30 years, but its strong-wind radius shrank to 350 km before impact, and Taiwan did not receive a direct hit.

Typhoon Bavi is the most powerful storm to hit China in 2026 and the second typhoon to strike the country within just over a week, following Typhoon Maysak. This context explains the heightened state of emergency preparedness across multiple Chinese provinces as authorities managed back-to-back severe weather events.

Outlets reported differing figures for the total number of people evacuated in China ahead of Typhoon Bavi, with counts ranging from approximately 1.72 million in Zhejiang province alone as of the morning of July 11 to nearly 2 million or more than 2.4 million across all affected provinces by the time of landfall. The variation in figures reflects different timestamps and whether reports counted only Zhejiang province or included evacuations across multiple provinces including Fujian, Shanghai, and Beijing.

Sources differed on the precise location of Typhoon Bavi's first landfall in Zhejiang province, with some outlets reporting it as Yuhuan city and others reporting it as Taizhou. All sources agreed on a second landfall near Yueqing or Wenzhou around midnight, indicating inconsistency in reporting the exact first-strike location while the broader landfall timeline remained consistent.

More than 130,000 people fled their homes in Fujian province due to the typhoon, according to center-right outlets. Around 34,000 people were evacuated from Shanghai's coastal and high-risk areas ahead of the storm. More than 100,000 people were evacuated in Beijing due to heavy rainfall and flood risks associated with the broader storm system, with officials stating the evacuation was ordered to avoid risk from potential flooding.