Nearly 2m people flee in China as typhoon lashes Taiwan, Japan islands

KEELUNG, July 11: Nearly two million people have fled their homes in China as an approaching typhoon lashed northern Taiwan and Japan's remote southwestern islands on Saturday, toppling trees and leaving tens of thousands without power.

Extreme 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.

Typhoon Bavi is expected to make landfall early on Sunday in the eastern province of Zhejiang, where more than 1.7 million people have been evacuated from their homes, state media reported.

Classes, work, transport and outdoor activities have been suspended, and more than 400 flights and dozens of train services cancelled in the province.

"The proactive, all-out mobilisation, which is sparing no effort or cost, is undertaken entirely to guard against the (worst-case) scenario," the government in Wenzhou, a metropolis of nearly 10 million people in Zhejiang, said in a statement.

Residents used wood to reinforce metal shutters protecting shops and taped windows, with Bavi forecast to bring "exceptionally heavy rains" to eastern Zhejiang and northeastern Fujian province, CCTV footage showed.�"AFP