Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from parts of eastern China as a powerful typhoon, the second to hit the country in a week, moves toward the coast.

Typhoon Bavi, which spans 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) at its widest point – about the width of France – is expected to make landfall near the main city of Wenzhou on Sunday morning.

After hitting a chain of remote Japanese islands, it brought heavy rain to Taiwan as it passed its northern tip. Previous landslides triggered by the storm killed 17 people in the Philippines.

Although it has weakened to a Category 1 typhoon, it still poses a risk due to the huge volume of moisture within its rain bands.

Bavi is forecast to bring “exceptionally heavy rain” to the eastern province of Zhejiang and the northeastern province of Fujian, officials said, adding that the evacuations “were carried out solely to protect against [worst-case] script”.

The city of Wenzhou, home to about 10 million people, is close to the storm’s path.

Bavi began as a super typhoon and hit Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands last Monday with winds of 290 km/h (180 mph).

As it moved across the Pacific, weakening to 90 mph winds, it hit the Sakishima Islands, part of Japan’s Ryukyu island chain, between the country’s main islands and Taiwan. At least five people were injured and thousands were left without power.

Taiwan was not hit directly, but thousands of people were forced to leave their homes and there was a danger of landslides after heavy rain. Neither country has reported deaths.