Typhoon Bavi's eyewall passes near northeast Taiwan with up to 900 mm rain and first-ever mega wave warning

Summary

Typhoon Bavi, which struck Guam and the Northern Marianas as a Category 5 storm in early July, was passing near northeast Taiwan on July 9. Taiwan's Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning at 2:30 p.m. local time, warning of heightened dangers in eastern areas and in the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan. The CWA forecast up to 900 mm of rain in northern Taiwan mountain areas through Sunday and issued its first-ever "mega wave" warning for waves exceeding 6 metres. CWA forecaster Jason Chang described storms of Bavi's size as "fairly rare in recent years," and the agency characterised Bavi as the largest typhoon to hit Taiwan by size since 1987. The Taipei Times reported the same assessment. The storm's eyewall was tracking near Yilan County in northeast Taiwan as of midday local time. Rappler also reported China bracing for the storm's impact.

The split

Taiwan-based outlets (Taiwan News, Focus Taiwan) focus on the precise meteorological impact, the sea warning timing, and the quantified rain and wave totals. The Philippine outlet Rappler is the only feed source to frame China's exposure alongside Taiwan's, placing the storm in a regional rather than a purely Taiwan-centric context. The CWA's "mega wave" warning, which is explicitly described as a first-ever CWA category, receives prominence in Focus Taiwan's coverage but is absent from Rappler's summary framing.

By the numbers

• 900 mm, maximum rainfall forecast for northern Taiwan mountain areas through Sunday
• 6 metres, the wave height that triggered the CWA's first-ever "mega wave" warning
• 1987, the last time a storm as large as Bavi struck Taiwan
• 2:30 p.m. local time Thursday, when the CWA issued the sea warning

Why it matters

Bavi's passage near northeast Taiwan follows its catastrophic impact on Guam and Rota as a Category 5. A storm of this size hitting Taiwan's mountainous northern terrain poses severe landslide and flooding risk beyond coastal damage, and the 900 mm rainfall forecast over multiple days amplifies that risk. The CWA's decision to issue its first-ever mega wave warning signals the agency treated this as an unusual coastal hazard, not a routine typhoon landfall. China's coastal provinces are next in the storm's track.

What to watch

• Actual rainfall totals and landslide or flooding reports from northeast Taiwan through Sunday
• Whether the storm maintains intensity as it moves toward China's Fujian or Zhejiang coast
• CWA lifting or upgrading warnings based on the storm's track relative to the Taiwan landmass
• Casualty and infrastructure damage assessments once the eyewall clears