Typhoon Bavi lashes Japan's Ryukyu islands and China evacuates 600,000 in Zhejiang and Fujian as system tracks northeast

Summary

Typhoon Bavi, which made landfall in Taiwan on July 9 and battered China's coast on July 10, struck Japan's Ryukyu island chain, including Okinawa, on July 11. China simultaneously evacuated more than 600,000 people from Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, with Zhejiang accounting for over 500,000 evacuations, according to Chinese state media cited by the Japan Times. The system's eye dissipated as it tracked northeast, but South China Morning Post experts warned the structural change expanded the typhoon's overall cloud coverage and spread its dangerous wind and rain field. Flights were disrupted across the region. Typhoon Bavi has caused cascading impact across the Philippines, Taiwan, and China over the previous 48 hours.

The split

Japan Times and SCMP cover the storm's track and evacuation scale with distinct geographic frames: Japan Times leads with the Ryukyu island impact and China's mass evacuation numbers; SCMP focuses on the typhoon's structural change after losing its eye and the implications for wider damage distribution. Taipei Times adds the Taiwan-side perspective as the storm passed through. The 600,000 evacuation figure comes from Chinese state media via Japan Times and has not been independently verified.

By the numbers

• 600,000+, people evacuated across Zhejiang and Fujian provinces in China by July 11.
• 500,000+, evacuated in Zhejiang alone, per Chinese state media cited by Japan Times.
• 100,000+, evacuated in neighbouring Fujian.
• 1,263 times the size of Hong Kong, the expanded cloud coverage of the typhoon after it lost its eye structure, per SCMP.

Why it matters

Typhoon Bavi is one of the larger typhoon systems to track through the western Pacific this season. The mass evacuations in eastern China and the system's impact on Japan's Ryukyu chain affect shipping lanes, aviation routes, and coastal communities across one of the world's most densely populated maritime corridors. The East China Sea and Taiwan Strait, which Bavi is crossing, are critical to regional trade.

What to watch

• Track and intensity updates as Bavi continues toward northeastern China.
• Casualty and damage reports from Japan's Ryukyu islands and China's Zhejiang and Fujian coasts.
• Resumption of flights disrupted across the region.
• Whether the expanded storm structure produces more widespread rainfall damage than a compact eye would have.