At least 39 people have died and nine remain missing after catastrophic flooding in southern China’s Guangxi region, triggered by torrential rains from Tropical Storm Maysak. Chinese state media and local officials confirmed that 26 of the deaths were linked to the partial collapse of the Liulan Reservoir in Nanning, which sent a wall of water into the city of Hengzhou. Residents told reporters that no warning was received, and that floodwaters reached the second floor of homes for the first time in living memory.

Rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing, with more than 8,000 personnel and 5,700 boats deployed, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Approximately 130,000 people have been evacuated across the region. In Guigang, military teams ferried over 10,000 stranded students and teachers from inundated school buildings. The flooding also caused extensive damage to animal enclosures: Guigang Zoo reported that more than 100 animals, including zebras and alpacas, escaped, while local officials in Hengzhou said between 800 and 900 snakes fled a collapsed breeding farm.

As Guangxi begins clean-up operations, a second and far larger storm is bearing down on the western Pacific. Typhoon Bavi, with a diameter exceeding 1,000 kilometres, is forecast to pass north of Taiwan before making landfall in China’s Fujian or Zhejiang province on 11 July. Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued its first-ever “mega wave” warning, forecasting waves over six metres and up to 900 millimetres of rain in northern mountains. Schools and offices were ordered closed across eight counties and cities, including Taipei, and most domestic flights for Friday and Saturday were cancelled. Japan’s meteorological agency warned of gusts reaching 252 km/h in the Sakishima Islands, while China’s National Meteorological Centre raised its typhoon alert to orange, the second-highest level.

Viewed from regional meteorological agencies, Bavi is among the largest typhoons to approach Taiwan in decades. The CWA said its 380-kilometre storm radius makes it the biggest since measurement methods changed in 1995, while some forecasters compared its total area to that of France. The storm weakened slightly from super-typhoon status after battering US Pacific territories, but authorities across Taiwan, Japan, and eastern China have urged residents to remain on high alert. The situation remains fluid, with the full human and material toll of both disasters yet to be determined.