Typhoon Doksuri swept into China’s southeast Fujian province on Friday, unleashing heavy rain and gusty winds that whipped power lines, sparked fires, uprooted trees and forced factories and shopping malls to close. The second-strongest typhoon to make landfall in Fujian after the deadly Typhoon Meranti in 2016 forced the closure of schools, businesses and the evacuation of workers from offshore oil and gas fields, state media said.
Xiamen, Quanzhou and Putian recorded hourly rainfall exceeding 50 mm (2.165 in), according to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).
Xiamen resident surnamed Zhuang told “All of Xiamen didn’t go to work this morning, there are no cars on the roads and factories and shopping malls are closed. I guess people used to be afraid of Meranti”.
Video on social media showed power lines sparking and burst into flames as winds lashed Jinjiang, a city of two million, while massive trees were uprooted in Quanzhou.
Electricity and water supplies have been cut off in some areas of Jinjiang and Quanzhou in Fujian province. Doksuri, the second typhoon to make landfall in China in less than two weeks, will move north, where 10 provinces will experience heavy rain, forecasters predict.
It is expected to continue moving northwestward with gradually weakening intensity, China’s CMA said. As it moves north, it reaches the agricultural province of Anhui, dumping rain on developing crops of corn, rice, soybeans and cotton. Analysts say it should weaken by then, but they are keeping a close eye on potential crop damage.
Typhoon Doksuri has already left a trail of death and destruction as it moved from the Philippines through southern Taiwan.
A storm in southern Taiwan uprooted trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, prompting authorities to shut down traffic for a second day on Friday and warn of extreme winds, landslides and flooding. The Taiwan Meteorological Bureau classified Doksuri as the second strongest typhoon.
Hurricane force and wind warnings were issued for Taiwan’s Penghu and Kinmen islands, where residents were warned to brace for gusts of more than 155 km/h (96 mph).
The storm knocked out power to more than 278,000 homes across Taiwan and felled hundreds of trees in Kaohsiung. Rainfall of more than 1 meter was recorded in the mountainous eastern and southern parts of the island.
More than 200 domestic and international flights were suspended or delayed on Friday, and rail links between southern and eastern Taiwan were halted.
The ferry sank near the Philippine capital, Manila, after passengers, alarmed by strong winds, rushed to one side of the ship and overturned it. As many as 36 people were killed this week during the Doksuri transit from the northern Philippines.
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