More than 600,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in China as Typhoon Bavi barrels towards the country after hitting Japan's Sakishima islands and grazing northern Taiwan. Chinese authorities said on Saturday more than half a million people were evacuated in the eastern Zhejiang province and another 100,000 in neighbouring Fujian province.

Bavi is expected to make landfall in Wenzhou, a densely populated city in Zhejiang, in the early hours of Sunday, and is expected to bring heavy rains. Although significantly weakened since it thundered through the US Pacific islands on Monday, the typhoon remains a significant risk due to the large volumes of moisture it carries in its rain bands.

China's national weather agency issued an orange typhoon alert – the second-highest on a four-level rating. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled, rail travel services reduced, and many schools and ferry services suspended. Residents in Wenzhou have stocked up on water and food supplies for two to three days.

In Ningde city, Fujian province, more than 3,700 people were evacuated from high-risk onshore areas by Friday evening, with over 17,000 emergency rescue workers on standby. Meanwhile, China's southern regions of Hainan and Guangxi are still reeling from Tropical Storm Maysak earlier this week, which killed at least 39 people in Nanning after a dam breach.

In Taiwan, at least 36 people were injured, mainly while riding motorcycles on slippery roads. Some 14,210 people were evacuated, and schools and offices closed. In Japan, over 200 flights were cancelled as authorities warned of high waves and strong winds. In the Philippines, landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains worsened by Bavi killed at least 17 people.

Source: www.aljazeera.com