Typhoon Bavi makes landfall in East China's Zhejiang

HANGZHOU -- Typhoon Bavi, the ninth typhoon of the year, landed on the coast of East China's Zhejiang province at around 11:20 pm Saturday, according to the Zhejiang provincial meteorological observatory.

The typhoon, with the maximum wind force at its center reaching 40 meters per second when landing, first churned ashore at Yuhuan city, a county-level city administered by the city of Taizhou, before making a second landfall in Yueqing city under the city of Wenzhou at around midnight.

After landfall, the typhoon is expected to continue moving northwestward while weakening.

The typhoon is forecast to bring torrential rains to Zhejiang's coastal regions and its central and southern parts overnight and heavy to torrential rains to its western regions on Sunday.

The Zhejiang provincial flood control headquarters warned against disruptions to urban operations, transportation and coastal aquaculture caused by severe wind and rain. The agency also urged vigilance against flash floods, geological disasters, urban waterlogging, floods in small and medium-sized rivers and farmland inundation.

Zhejiang province raised its typhoon emergency response to the highest level as of 11 am Saturday. As of 8 am on Saturday, Zhejiang had evacuated nearly 1.72 million residents to safe locations, local authorities said.