Typhoon Doksuri shuts businesses, cancels hundreds of flights in Taiwan

Typhoon Doksuri churned over Taiwan on Thursday, closing businesses and schools and cancelling hundreds of flights as it made its way to China, where it will make landfall later this week. Typhoon Doksuri, Taiwan’s second-strongest typhoon, was travelling towards the southern Taiwan Strait with maximum winds of 191 kilometres per hour (118 miles per hour) as of 10:15 a.m. (0215 GMT). Doksuri was a super typhoon at one point, but it lost some of its ferocity after pounding the northern Philippines’ coast on Wednesday, bursting river banks and knocking out electricity to thousands. Doksuri killed five people, according to the Philippines’ disaster management agency. On Thursday, Taiwan’s meteorological agency issued wind and rain warnings for the southern and eastern parts of the island, including the main port city of Kaohsiung, which halted businesses and schools and issued landslip warnings. In Taiwan, all domestic flights and ferry lines were halted, while over 100 foreign flights were cancelled or delayed. Railway services between southern and eastern Taiwan have been suspended. More than 5,700 people were evacuated as a precaution, largely in Taiwan’s hilly south and east, where more than 0.7 metres of rain was reported in certain regions and up to 1 metre was anticipated. The typhoon knocked out electricity to almost 49,000 Taiwanese households, although the bulk of them have now been restored. “Typhoon Doksuri should not be underestimated,” Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chi-mai said in a Facebook post late on Wednesday. “The police and military force will assist in the effort of forced evacuation if needed,” he said, pointing to threats by torrential rain in mountainous areas. Braving occasional showers and winds, Taiwan’s armed forces pressed ahead with a large-scale anti-landing drill on a beach near the major Taipei Port just outside the capital, simulating the repulsion of an enemy force with ground troops and tanks amid high military tensions with neighbouring China. The storm has disrupted parts of Taiwan’s main annual Han Kuang exercises and air-raid drills that started on Monday, as authorities cancelled some exercises citing safety concerns and the need to make preparations for the typhoon.