By Karen Lema, Bernard Orr and Yimou Lee
MANILA/BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) – At least one person was killed as Typhoon Doksuri lashed the northern Philippines with strong winds and rain on Wednesday, causing rivers to overflow and leaving thousands without power.
Residents in coastal communities had been evacuated ahead of the storm, which brought winds of up to 175 kilometres per hour (108 miles per hour) and is expected to sustain strength as it continues its course toward Taiwan and China later this week.
“We are being battered here,” Manual Mamba, governor of northern Cagayan province told Reuters.
At least one person drowned in the province of Rizal in the wake of the typhoon, the national disaster agency said.
More than 4,000 passengers were stranded at various ports in the country after sea travel was suspended, the Philippine coast guard said.
As of 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said in the past three hours the typhoon’s centre was close to hovering and at a standstill.
But authorities issued land warnings for several counties and cities in southern Taiwan including the major port city of Kaohsiung. An emergency response centre has been set up by the central government, and nearly 50 domestic flights and four international flights, as well as many ferry lines, were cancelled.
Railway services between eastern and southern Taiwan will be suspended from Wednesday evening.
More than 300 people have been evacuated in southern and eastern Taiwan as a precaution as Doksuri was expected to bring up to 1 metre (3.3 feet) of rainfall there.
China’s National Meteorological Centre upgraded its typhoon warning alert to red from orange as of 10 a.m. (0200 GMT), the highest advisory among the four-tier colour coded warning system.
Doksuri is expected to move northwest at a speed of 10-15 kph (6-9 mph) and enter the northeastern part of the South China Sea starting Wednesday night until Thursday morning, said China’s Central Meteorological Administration.
It will sweep past southern Taiwan on Thursday and is predicted to make landfall along the coasts of central Fujian and eastern Guangdong provinces on Friday morning, Chinese weather forecasters predicted.
Guangzhou Daily reported that it could be the strongest typhoon that has landed or seriously affected eastern Guangdong in the past 10 years.
China upgraded its emergency response to Level II from Level III and the Central Meteorological Administration urged people to shore up on food, necessities and candles as a precautionary measure.
A Level II emergency response implies an oncoming typhoon could severely affect the country, according to the state council’s national emergency plan for flood control and drought relief.
Doksuri would be second typhoon to make landfall in China in less than two weeks after Talim slammed into Guangdong province on the evening of July 17.
(Reporting by Karen Lema in Manila, Bernard Orr in Beijing and Yimou Lee in Tapei; Additonal reporting by Beijing and Shanghai newsrooms; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
