Extreme weather has already caused widespread disruption in southern and central China this week, with storms killing at least 39 people, causing rivers to overflow and triggering the collapse of a reservoir dam.
Typhoon Bavi is expected to make landfall early on Sunday near Wenzhou, a city of nearly 10 million people in eastern Zhejiang province, where authorities said 887,801 people had been evacuated from their homes by late Friday.
"The proactive, all-out mobilization, which is sparing no effort or cost, is undertaken entirely to guard against the (worst-case) scenario," Wenzhou authorities said in a statement.
Residents used wood to reinforce metal shutters protecting shops and taped windows as Bavi was forecast to bring "exceptionally heavy rains" to eastern Zhejiang and north-eastern Fujian province, CCTV footage showed.
Further north, torrential rain prompted the evacuation of more than 100,000 people as authorities increased water discharge from Beijing's Miyun Reservoir to prepare for possible flooding.
Streets were largely deserted in northern Taiwan, where most businesses remained closed for a second day as strong winds and rain battered the region.
More than 14,000 people have been evacuated, hundreds of flights cancelled and more than 170,000 households across the island affected by power outages due to the storm.
"Everyone is afraid of the severe weather and staying indoors, but I only came out because I have orders," a breakfast shop owner surnamed Tsai told AFP in Taiwan's port city of Keelung.
"Some people are on duty and wouldn't have anything to eat, so I still need to deliver food to them," the 50-year-old said.
Bavi was downgraded from a super typhoon as it moved across the Pacific Ocean after striking Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on Monday.
Its maximum sustained wind speeds fell to 137kph, with gusts of about 173kph on Saturday, Taiwan's Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
The CWA warned of "extremely torrential rain" across northern Taiwan and "dangerous waves" of up to 10 meters along the coast as Bavi passed north of the island.
In the Philippines, the death toll from landslides and other incidents triggered by heavy rain linked to Bavi rose to 18, with most fatalities reported on the southern island of Mindanao.
Nearly 11,000 people across the archipelago fled their homes, while dozens of ports remained closed, with 313 vessels taking shelter.
More than 18,000 households and facilities across Okinawa lost power as the typhoon struck Japan's remote south-western islands, with the Miyako region the worst affected.
Japanese airlines cancelled dozens of flights, affecting more than 26,000 passengers.
"Miyako is taking worst of typhoon Bavi," professional storm-chaser James Reynolds said in a post on X from Ishigaki on Saturday.
"Conditions on Ishigaki gale force with some overnight gusts to typhoon strength."