Mindanao
\nFifteen people were killed in landslides in the Philippines, and more than 2,000 in Taiwan were evacuated from their homes, as the biggest typhoon in decades neared the region on Friday.
\nTyphoon Bavi is expected to pound Taiwan\u2019s north and east, as well as Japan\u2019s remote southwestern islands, on Friday and Saturday before smashing into China, which has been hit by deadly storms this week.
\nTwo landslides triggered by heavy rains driven by Bavi killed at least 15 people and left six others missing on the Philippines\u2019 southern island of Mindanao, authorities said.
\nLocals in Taiwan\u2019s port city of Keelung, which is expected to be one of the hardest hit areas on the island, stocked up on food, taped windows, and stacked sandbags along shop fronts, heeding warnings from authorities to take precautions.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re saying it\u2019s going to be huge; of course that\u2019s scary, right?\u201d Keelung grocery store owner Chang Shih-huo, 76, told AFP.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve stocked up on some instant noodles and bread and stuff like that. Once the wind and rain really start picking up, we\u2019ll have to close the shop.\u201d
\nAfter hitting Guam and the Northern Marianas on Monday as a super typhoon, Bavi was downgraded to a typhoon as it moved across the Pacific Ocean.
\nBavi\u2019s maximum sustained wind speeds slowed to 155 kilometres (96 miles) per hour, with gusts of around 190 kilometres per hour, on Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
\n\u201cThe typhoon is likely to continue weakening because environmental conditions are not favourable,\u201d CWA forecaster Wang Ping-hsiang told AFP.
\n\u201cThe greatest impact is expected in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Yilan, while the heaviest rainfall is forecast for mountainous areas in central and northern Taiwan.\u201d
\nBavi\u2019s strong-wind radius of 380 kilometres will make it the largest typhoon to hit Taiwan in more than 30 years.
\nMany schools and businesses were shuttered on Friday across northern and eastern Taiwan, and hundreds of flights were cancelled.
\nIn Keelung, locals flocked to a fresh food market to buy fruit and vegetables, street vendors secured their stands, and a temple covered and tied down an outdoor statue ahead of the storm.
\n\u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing now is the most remarkable sight we haven\u2019t seen in 10 years,\u201d Keelung restaurant owner Penny Pan, 48, said as her husband placed sandbags at the entrance to their eatery.
\n\u201cIn the past we never used sandbags to prepare for typhoons. But this time they\u2019re forecasting Force 10 gusts, so the captains and fishermen have all been saying we need to be better prepared,\u201d Pan said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Strong winds and heavy rain\u2019
\nBavi is expected to dump up to nearly a metre of rain, raising concerns about potential flooding and landslides.
\nPeople were ordered to stay away from the shore as the typhoon whipped up to nine metre (30 foot) waves.
\nMore than 2,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, mostly in the mountainous county of Hualien in Taiwan\u2019s east, where authorities are monitoring two barrier dams.
\nTaiwanese President Lai Ching-te urged people in areas likely to be most affected by Bavi to remain on \u201chigh alert\u201d.
\nMore than 28,000 troops, along with machinery, equipment and vehicles, were on standby to respond to emergencies.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re worried,\u201d said Samuel Fu, who works in a noodle shop in the coastal district of Bali, in New Taipei City.
\n\u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve experienced such a big typhoon\u2026 since we opened the shop,\u201d 20-year-old Fu told AFP.
\nOn Japan\u2019s remote Sakashima islands, schools and offices were closed in some areas as the typhoon approached, with forecasters warning of high waves, storms and landslides.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve covered objects with nets so that they won\u2019t fly away\u2026the storm is getting gradually stronger right now,\u201d Masaru Nakamura, who works at a hotel on Miyako island, told AFP.
\nOn Okinawa, Koki Ohama said his water sports and barbeque business in the major city of Naha would suffer from the storm.
\n\u201cWe were originally fully reserved this weekend, but bookings were all cancelled, so it\u2019s painful,\u201d the 30-year-old said.
\nAfter slamming into the Japanese islands and sweeping past Taiwan\u2019s northern tip, Bavi is expected to make landfall in eastern China over the weekend.
\nExtreme weather has already wreaked havoc on southern and central China this week, with storms leaving at least 39 dead and causing dozens of rivers to overflow and a reservoir dam to burst.
\nOceans experienced their hottest June on record and could set fresh highs in the months ahead, the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Marine Service said last week.
\nWarmer oceans help tropical storms to intensify and add more moisture, which can fall as heavy rain.
\nAdding to the mix is the return this year of El Nino, a natural climate phenomenon that warms Pacific surface temperatures and typically occurs every two to seven years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mindanao Fifteen people were killed in landslides in the Philippines, and more than 2,000 in Taiwan were evacuated from their homes, as the biggest typhoon in decades neared the region on Friday. Typhoon Bavi is expected to pound Taiwan\u2019s north and east, as well as Japan\u2019s remote southwestern islands, on Friday and Saturday before smashing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100157,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100140\/revisions\/100157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}