Typhoon Maysak killed two people in Nanning, the capital of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with roughly 48,000 residents evacuated and approximately 55,000 affected by floodwaters, according to Nanning's deputy mayor Wei Jiang, as reported by The Guardian on July 6, 2026. These figures come from Chinese state media, as the Associated Press noted. A separate Deutsche Welle report cited an unnamed county where roughly 180,000 residents were affected and over 68,000 evacuated, suggesting the damage spreads well beyond the city itself.

Maysak first made landfall in Hainan province on July 3, 2026 — the first tropical cyclone to reach mainland China that year — prompting Hainan authorities to suspend flights and ferry services. It then crossed the Gulf of Tonkin and made a second landfall in Vietnam on July 5. Vietnamese state media reported that Maysak stripped trees and tore metal roofing in Mong Cai, a northeastern border city directly in the path of storms heading toward Guangxi. By the time the storm's remaining moisture reached the Chinese interior, damage was already mounting.

A Region Under Water

The flooding spread across Guangxi far beyond Nanning. At Guigang, roughly 270 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital, water levels at the local measurement station reached 42 meters by 12:30 p.m. on July 6, according to China's Ministry of Water Resources. Video verified by The Guardian showed cars fully submerged on a main road, with water covering the street completely. In Fangchenggang, a coastal city near the Vietnamese border, verified footage showed a car swept down a flooded street, with water reaching the steering wheel of another parked vehicle. In Nanning alone, water overflowed or breached barriers at at least three reservoirs — the large artificial lakes that store water for cities.

Xinhua reported that China upgraded its flood emergency response for Guangxi to Level II on July 6, the second-highest tier in the national system and reserved for severe events requiring major coordination across government agencies. A day earlier, on July 5, China's Ministry of Emergency Management had already sent two additional working teams to Guangxi to strengthen flood control efforts, according to the Chinese government's official English-language site.

The Next Storm: Super Typhoon Bavi

While rescue and drainage work continues in Guangxi, Chinese meteorologists are tracking a second, stronger system. Super Typhoon Bavi was moving across the Western Pacific on July 6 with sustained winds of up to 180 miles per hour as it passed over the Mariana Islands — Guam, Tinian, Saipan, and Rota — according to the US National Weather Service. Chinese weather authorities, cited by Xinhua, warned that Bavi would bring strong winds and heavy rain to eastern China starting July 9.

The timing here matters. Guangxi's soil is already waterlogged, its reservoirs are stressed, and tens of thousands of displaced residents have not yet returned home. Chinese meteorologists are forecasting more heavy rain across Guangxi, Guizhou, and Hunan in the days right after Maysak — before Bavi's outer edges even arrive. These three provinces together are home to more than 150 million people.

This creates a serious operational challenge. A Level II response requires provincial and central authorities to work simultaneously, and with two working teams already on the ground, the Ministry of Emergency Management has limited extra personnel to send before it must also prepare for Bavi's arrival. Taiwan, which sits directly in Bavi's path across the Pacific, will be the first major landmass to face the full-strength system. How much the typhoon weakens crossing Taiwan's mountains will determine how much strength it retains when it reaches the Chinese coast.

Right now, the most urgent job in Guangxi is keeping the reservoirs intact. Three breaches or overflows in a single provincial capital during one storm is not routine. With another round of heavy rain forecast before Bavi arrives, engineers and local officials have a narrow window to restore the reservoirs' capacity to handle water before the next major downpour hits.