Tropical Storm Bavi Moves Inland After Prompting Evacuations and Disruptions

As of 5pm on Sunday, the storm was over Wuhu city in the central province of Anhui, according to the National Meteorological Centre. Bavi, which had been downgraded to a tropical storm earlier in the day, was slowly moving inland to the northwest at speeds of around 10 to 15km/h (6-9mph).

The storm had earlier brought strong winds and heavy rains to large swathes of the east coast, prompting the evacuation of around 2.4 million people in the path of the storm and causing thousands of flights and rail services to be cancelled.

But as the conditions began to ease along the east coast, and some local authorities downgraded their weather warnings, services slowly began to return to normal. However, high winds and heavy rainfall were expected to continue across many parts of the country.

High-speed rail services along several major corridors connecting cities from Beijing to Hong Kong – as well as major eastern transport hubs such as Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou – began a phased resumption on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Taizhou, a city on the Zhejiang coast, lifted traffic restrictions on several major bridges, allowing several major road links to resume normal operations.

The storm was expected to ground more than 2,800 flights, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.