Multiple weather emergencies grip China as Super Typhoon Bavi nears

China is facing a series of concurrent weather emergencies after deadly tornadoes, flooding, and landslides struck several provinces, while Super Typhoon Bavi continues to track towards the country’s eastern coast, threatening further disruption during the peak summer travel season.

At least 11 people were killed after two rare tornadoes swept across Hubei province on Monday (6 July), with winds reaching up to 149km/h overturning vehicles, tearing roofs from buildings, and damaging infrastructure. One person remains missing as emergency services continue search and rescue operations.

Elsewhere, 16 people remain missing after a landslide hit a mountainous area of Gansu province, while authorities continue responding to widespread flooding in the southern Guangxi region following the passage of Typhoon Maysak.

Maysak became the first tropical cyclone to make landfall on the Chinese mainland this year when it struck the island province of Hainan on Friday. The storm then made a second landfall in northern Vietnam before re-entering China through Guangxi, bringing torrential rainfall, flooding, and infrastructure damage. Vietnamese authorities also reported fallen trees and damaged buildings in the border city of Mong Cai as the storm tracked inland.

China’s National Meteorological Centre has warned that heavy rainfall will continue across Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, and several other provinces in the coming days. The three provinces alone are home to more than 150 million people, highlighting the scale of the population that could face further flooding, landslides, and transport disruption.

Additional heavy rain warnings remain in place for Guangdong, Hainan, Shandong, and Liaoning, while Guangxi could receive up to 260mm of rainfall over the next 24 hours.

The situation is expected to become more challenging later this week as Super Typhoon Bavi approaches East Asia. After passing through Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands with winds of up to 289km/h, the storm is forecast to affect Taiwan before making landfall along China’s eastern coast, potentially between Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, over the weekend.

Taiwanese authorities have warned that some areas could receive more than 1 metre of rainfall, with nearly 29,000 military personnel placed on standby to support emergency response operations.

The succession of severe weather events illustrates the growing operational challenges posed by climate-related disasters.

Flooding, airport and transport disruption, road closures, and evacuation orders may lead to increased demand for emergency assistance, alternative travel arrangements, and medical support, while insurers are likely to see claims relating to trip delays, cancellations, and accommodation costs as conditions continue to evolve.

The clustering of multiple natural disasters across different regions also places additional pressure on local emergency services and healthcare infrastructure at the height of the summer travel season.

In other natural disaster events, the death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela in late June has risen to over 3,300, according to updated figures released by the country’s information ministry.