BEIJING: Fishermen sheltered in harbours, residents queued for sandbags and farmers raced to bring in crops on Thursday as China and Taiwan braced for Typhoon Bavi, possibly the most destructive tropical storm in years.

As Bavi churned southeast of Taiwan, rescue workers in southern China continued to search for victims and survivors of Typhoon Maysak, which killed at least 39 people earlier this week.

In the northeastern Taiwanese fishing town of Suao, hundreds of boats crowded into port to shelter from the approaching storm.

“Don’t be fooled by the nice and calm weather now. A storm like this could be the most terrifying,” said Chen Ming-hui, captain of a 3-metric-ton fishing vessel, recalling how previous typhoons had sunk boats and inundated the town.

Authorities in Taiwan warned that Bavi could bring up to one metre (3.3 feet) of rain to mountains north of Taipei and placed about 29,000 soldiers on standby, according to the defence ministry. The storm could become Taiwan’s most powerful typhoon since Kong-rey in 2024, which killed three people.

Bavi, with winds approaching 200 kph (124 mph), spans about 1,000 km (621 miles) at its widest point, roughly the width of France, and is forecast to skirt northern Taiwan before making landfall in China’s eastern Fujian province on Saturday evening, according to China’s National Meteorological Centre.

Storms of this size have been “fairly rare in recent years,” Jason Chang, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration forecaster, told Reuters, adding that Bavi is set to be the largest storm by size to hit the island since 1987.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2026