Typhoon Bavi was around 400 kilometers southwest of southern Jeju regions as of Tuesday afternoon. 

The Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA) said the eighth typhoon of the season was moving northwest at a speed of 12 kilometers per hour as of 3 p.m. 

As it passes through waters south of Jeju, the typhoon, which is already mid-sized, is expected to further develop into a system with central pressure of around 940 hectoPascal and a maximum wind speed of 40 meters per second. Weather experts warn it could become one of the strongest typhoons to strike the country. 

Jeju and some southern coastal areas of mainland Korea are already seeing rain under the typhoon’s influence while rains will expand nationwide on Wednesday. 

In response to the approaching typhoon, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety upgraded its crisis alert system from watch to alert at 4 p.m. while the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters raised its emergency readiness system by a notch to Level Two.