East Asia braces for destructive typhoon as landslides kill 15 in Philippines
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- Typhoon Bavi, spanning roughly 1,000km across the Pacific, triggered landslides on the Philippine island of Mindanao that killed at least 15 people overnight, with rescuers still searching for the missing as moderate-to-heavy rains continue through the weekend.
- Taiwan's Central Weather Administration warned Bavi could bring up to 1m of rainfall and would be the largest storm by size to hit the island since 1987, prompting the defence ministry to place 29,000 soldiers on standby for relief operations.
- Carriers across the region grounded flights en masse: Japan Airlines axed more than 100 flights affecting nearly 20,000 passengers, All Nippon Airways cancelled 160+ flights through Sunday affecting another ~20,000, and Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines suspended services to and from Taipei.
- China's government warned of "significant impact" as Bavi tracks toward southeastern Fujian province for a Saturday landfall, with one forecaster noting the storm could make landfall twice and urging northern provinces with "less experience" of typhoons to strengthen preparations.
- Southern China was already reeling from Typhoon Maysak earlier in the week — which killed at least 39 people, forced 130,000 evacuations mostly in Guangxi, and spawned two rare tornadoes in Hubei province — meaning back-to-back storms compound agricultural and humanitarian strain.
- Residents of Japan's remote Sakishima Islands taped windows and draped windproof nets across homes ahead of the storm's passage, according to photographs shared online.
Why it matters: Taiwan's Central Weather Administration says Bavi would be the largest storm by size to hit the island since 1987, and the 29,000-soldier mobilization signals an unusually severe event with up to 1m of rainfall expected. Southern China is still recovering from Typhoon Maysak's 39 deaths, meaning back-to-back storms will compound evacuation demands and agricultural losses across the region.
