Typhoon Bavi Kills 15 in Philippines, Eyes Taiwan and China
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- Landslides killed 15 people across the Philippines' Mindanao: 10 in Malapatan, Sarangani province early Friday, and at least 5 in a separate landslide in Lanao del Sur, according to the Philippine News Agency and local media.
- Typhoon Bavi (known locally as Inday) entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Wednesday but weakened on a northwest track across the Philippine Sea, with PAGASA saying it will not make landfall though its tail end threatens heavy rain and flooding in Manila and other areas.
- Malapatan Mayor Salway Sumbo Jr said some victims in Sarangani were related, and parts of the affected village were being evacuated as heavy rainfall continued across the region.
- Bavi struck the U.S. Pacific territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on Monday as a super typhoon, causing infrastructure damage but no casualties.
- Taiwan has evacuated hundreds of people and closed schools and offices ahead of the storm's expected Saturday arrival in northern and eastern parts of the island, while Japan's Ishikawa prefecture saw heavy rains Friday morning.
- Southern China is still recovering from Typhoon Maysak, which hit earlier this week and killed 39 people after a breached dam flooded the city of Nanning — a compounding disaster context as Bavi now approaches the same region.
Why it matters: Bavi's path creates a cascading regional crisis: the Philippines already counts 15 dead from landslide-related flooding, Taiwan and Japan are scrambling with evacuations, and southern China faces a second major typhoon strike while still recovering from Maysak's dam-breach flooding that killed 39 in Nanning. The compounding disaster exposure across at least four countries within days underscores how densely populated Asia-Pacific coastlines absorb sequential storm hits during monsoon season.
