Five people were killed in a landslide in the Philippines, and hundreds in Taiwan were evacuated from their homes, as the biggest typhoon in decades swept towards the region on Friday.
Typhoon Bavi is expected to pound Taiwan's north and east, as well as Japan's remote southwestern islands, on Friday and Saturday before smashing into China, which has been hit by deadly storms this week.
A landslide triggered by heavy rains enhanced by Bavi killed at least five people and left six others missing on the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao, police said.
Locals in Taiwan's port city of Keelung, which is expected to be one of the hardest hit areas on the island, stocked up on food, taped windows, and stacked sandbags along shop fronts, heeding warnings from authorities to take precautions.
"They're saying it's going to be huge; of course that's scary, right?" Keelung grocery store owner Chang Shih-huo, 76, told AFP.
"We've stocked up on some instant noodles and bread and stuff like that. Once the wind and rain really start picking up, we'll have to close the shop."
After hitting Guam and the Northern Marianas on Monday as a super typhoon, Bavi was downgraded to a typhoon as it moved across the Pacific Ocean.
Bavi's maximum sustained wind speeds were 162 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, with gusts of around 198 kilometers per hour, on Friday -- slower than on Thursday -- the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
"The typhoon is likely to continue weakening because environmental conditions are not favorable," CWA forecaster Wang Ping-hsiang told AFP.
"The greatest impact is expected in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Yilan, while the heaviest rainfall is forecast for mountainous areas in central and northern Taiwan."
Bavi's strong-wind radius of 380 kilometers (240 miles) will make it the largest typhoon to hit Taiwan in more than 30 years.
Many schools and businesses were shuttered on Friday across northern and eastern Taiwan, including the capital Taipei, and hundreds of domestic and international flights were cancelled.
In Keelung, locals flocked to a fresh food market to buy fruit and vegetables, street vendors secured their stands, and a temple covered and tied down an outdoor statue ahead of the storm.
"What you're seeing now is the most remarkable sight we haven't seen in 10 years," Keelung restaurant owner Penny Pan, 48, said as her husband placed sandbags at the entrance to their eatery.
"In the past we never used sandbags to prepare for typhoons. But this time they're forecasting Force 10 gusts, so the captains and fishermen have all been saying we need to be better prepared," Pan said.
Bavi is expected to dump up to a meter of rain, raising concerns about potential flooding and landslides.
More than a thousand people have been evacuated from their homes, mostly in the mountainous county of Hualien in Taiwan's east, where authorities are monitoring two barrier dams.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te urged people in areas likely to be most affected by Bavi to remain on "high alert".
More than 20,000 troops, along with machinery, equipment and vehicles, were on standby to respond to emergencies.
