Typhoon Bavi weakens to tropical storm as it slams into eastern China

Tropical Storm Bavi has slammed into eastern China and, despite weakening from a typhoon, has brought heavy rain and violent winds after authorities evacuated nearly two million people.

Bavi is the strongest storm to hit China this year. It reached the coastal city of Yuhuan in Zhejiang province on Saturday just before midnight, followed by another landfall in the densely populated city in Yueqing in the district of Wenzhou.

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“We could hear roof tiles and tree branches falling,” Yueqing resident Li Liangxing told the Reuters news agency, saying a walkway beside his compound had disappeared under water.

The storm, which is roughly the size of France, felled more than 1,300 trees in Yueqing with half of them being torn out from the root, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Floodwaters rose to about half the height of a car tyre. Emergency teams used chainsaws and excavators to clear waterlogged streets littered with fallen trees.

China’s National Meteorological Center reported winds of 101 kilometres per hour (63 miles per hour) early on Sunday. Forecasters have warned the storm is expected to unleash heavy rains on eastern and northern China over the coming days.

China’s eastern transport network of trains and flights has been heavily affected by the storm. Two major railway stations in Hangzhou, Zhejiang’s capital, suspended all services, while 327 flights were cancelled at the city’s Xiaoshan International Airport. Meanwhile in nearby Shanghai, 684 flights and more than 1,600 trains were cancelled, according to the state-backed outlet The Paper.

By Sunday afternoon, Bavi had crossed into Anhui province, northwest of Zhejiang, and was expected to move northeast to the Yellow Sea by Tuesday, the National Meteorological Center said.