Fifteen lives.
Gone in minutes.
Before this typhoon even reached its final, most terrifying form.
Welcome to the story of Typhoon Bavi — the storm that just became the largest to threaten Taiwan in over 30 years.
Two landslides.
Triggered by rain Bavi hadn't even fully unleashed yet.
15 dead.
6 missing.
On the southern island of Mindanao.
And that was just the warm-up.
Schools shut.
Businesses closed.
Hundreds of flights grounded.
Over 2,000 people evacuated — mostly from the mountainous county of Hualien, where officials are watching two barrier dams like a hawk.
A 76-year-old grocery store owner in Keelung put it simply:
"They're saying it's going to be huge. Of course that's scary, right?"
He stocked instant noodles.
Taped his windows.
Stacked sandbags he's never needed before in decades of running his shop.
Bavi's strong-wind radius: 380 kilometres.
That makes it the biggest typhoon to hit Taiwan in more than 30 years.
And it's not even done travelling.
Before Bavi even lands there.
Storms this week already killed 39 people across southern and central China.
Dozens of rivers overflowed.
A reservoir dam burst.
Bavi is heading straight into a region already on its knees.
Why does this keep happening.
Oceans just recorded their hottest June ever.
Warmer oceans feed storms.
More moisture.
More rain.
More intensity.
Add El Niño back into the mix, and you get storms behaving like nothing officials have planned for.
28,000+ troops on standby.
Machinery, vehicles, equipment — all deployed.
President Lai Ching-te has told residents in high-risk zones one thing:
stay on high alert.
A 20-year-old noodle shop worker in New Taipei summed up what an entire region is feeling right now:
"This is the first time we've experienced such a big typhoon since we opened the shop."
That's the real story here.
Not just one storm.
A new normal, arriving one record-breaking typhoon at a time.
That's all for now!
