Typhoon Bavi made landfall on the eastern coast of China on the night of Saturday, July 11, 2026, bringing winds up to 145 km/h [1].
The storm represents a significant threat to the region's infrastructure and safety, prompting one of the largest emergency mobilizations in recent history to prevent mass casualties.
Authorities coordinated large-scale evacuations as the storm moved northward from the western Pacific. Reports on the number of displaced residents vary across sources. Some records indicate over 1.8 million people were evacuated [4], while other reports said the number was almost 2 million [1]. A higher estimate suggests that more than 2.8 million people were moved to safety [3].
The typhoon struck the area around the city of Wenzhou, delivering heavy rain and intense wind gusts [1, 5]. Before hitting China, the system passed through Japan and Taiwan [5].
Meteorologists and news agencies have differed on the storm's historical ranking. While some initial reports labeled it the most powerful typhoon of the year, Reuters said the system was possibly the strongest storm in years [2].
Local officials said that the storm could bring days of intense rainfall to the region [3]. The combination of high wind speeds and persistent precipitation increases the risk of landslides, and urban flooding in the coastal provinces.
One source identified the storm as Typhoon Noul [6], though the majority of reporting outlets used the name Bavi [1, 2, 3, 5].
“Typhoon Bavi made landfall on the eastern coast of China on the night of Saturday, July 11, 2026.”
The scale of the evacuations—ranging from 1.8 to 2.8 million people—underscores the severity of Typhoon Bavi and the high vulnerability of China's eastern coastal cities. The discrepancy in storm naming and intensity rankings suggests a rapidly evolving weather event, while the potential for days of intense rain indicates that the primary danger may shift from wind damage to prolonged flooding and secondary geological disasters.
