Typhoon Bavi triggers evacuations, flight cuts in East Asia

A powerful typhoon is sweeping across East Asia, forcing mass evacuations, grounding hundreds of flights, and putting millions of people on high alert. Typhoon Bavi, packing maximum sustained winds of 162 kilometers per hour, is forecast to pass dangerously close to Japan’s southwestern Sakishima Islands early on Saturday, July 11, before threatening Taiwan with torrential rain and making landfall in eastern China late Saturday or early Sunday.

Japanese authorities have warned of violent winds, torrential rain, landslides, and flooding, describing the storm as potentially one of the most destructive to hit the region in years. On Ishigaki Island, part of the Sakishima chain in Okinawa Prefecture, residents spent Friday, July 10, taping windows, draping windproof nets over homes and businesses, and rushing to supermarkets to stock up on supplies. Nearly 900 buildings in the prefecture were already without power by Friday afternoon. The disruption to travel has been severe, with Japan Airlines cancelling more than 100 flights and All Nippon Airways grounding over 160 services through the weekend, affecting tens of thousands of passengers. Ferry services were suspended, stranding...