Super Typhoon Doksuri Hits Philippines, Heads to China, Taiwan

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Philippine authorities on Tuesday evacuated hundreds of people in coastal communities as super typhoon Doksuri intensified in strength, pummeling the north with strong winds and heavy rains before it heads toward Taiwan and China.

The southeast Asian nation canceled flights and shipping while it braced for Doksuri, which barreled toward the rugged terrain of northern Luzon island with winds of 185 kilometers per hour (115 miles per hour) and gusts of up to 230 kilometers per hour.

“People in Cagayan are used to evacuating whenever a storm is coming. They really do follow the directives,” Ruellie Rapsing, head of the province’s disaster risk reduction council, said in an interview with DZBB radio. People fled their homes in more than 10 coastal towns in Cagayan, where storm surges may be as high as three meters, Rapsing said.

Typhoon Doksuri Gains Power as It Threatens Philippines, Taiwan

The highest alert in a five-tier wind-strength classification was raised in Babuyan Islands in the extreme north of Luzon, according to the weather bureau, which warned of widespread damage to high-risk structures and a situation that is “potentially very destructive to the community.”

The area has already been seeing some flooding as a result of the monsoon, and the storm may worsen the situation.

#AlertoCagayano| Malapit na ring maabot ng tubig mula sa ilog ang Bagunot, Taytay/ San Isidro overflow bridge sa bayan ng Baggao, Cagayan base sa monitoring ng MDRRMO-Baggao.#EgayPH pic.twitter.com/BCJTm1MeHT
— CagayanPIO (@PioCagayan) July 25, 2023

The storm is forecast to make landfall or pass very close Cagayan as early as late tonight. Even if the storm doesn’t make landfall, its sheer size means it’s likely to cause disruption to the province, which has experienced massive flooding in the past. Cagayan produces rice and corn, and hosts an economic zone.

Philippine Airlines and Cebu Air Inc. canceled more than a dozen flights from today, they said on Facebook. Nearly 10,000 people, 75 vessels and over 1,800 rolling cargoes are stranded in various ports as of Tuesday morning, according to the nation’s coast guard. President Ferdinand Marcos left for Malaysia on Tuesday, a day after his annual state of the nation address.

The Philippines is expected to see the biggest impact from the storm from tonight to tomorrow. Doksuri is forecast to exit the Philippines on Thursday morning, state weather bureau Pagasa said. It will then likely cross the Taiwan Strait and make landfall in the vicinity of Fujian, China on Friday morning.

“I have specifically asked government ministries to prepare for the typhoon,” Taiwan’s Premier Chen Chien-jen said in a post on Facebook. “Let’s work together at the central and local levels to minimize the impact and damage,” he said, noting that Taiwan hasn’t seen a typhoon landfall for nearly four years.

The island’s government on Tuesday afternoon issued a land warning ahead of the typhoon’s approach, according to the Central Weather Bureau. On Monday, Taiwan raised a sea warning.

Rocky seas are expected, complicating efforts by Taiwan authorities to retrieve hundreds of shipping containers that washed overboard after the sinking of the Palau-flagged Angel a few days ago. Harbor authorities in Kaohsiung need to speed efforts to handle the containers, Taiwan’s Transport Minister Wang Kwo-tsai said in a statement.

Taiwan has retrieved over 200 of the 1,349 empty containers that fell into the ocean after the ship sank, CNA reported earlier. (Editor’s note: CNA is a news agency).

Massive container ship sank outside the Port of Kaohsiung on Friday morning sending dozens of containers adrift https://t.co/BINiimcYFP pic.twitter.com/i2O0GQY3gB
— Taiwan News (@TaiwanNewsEN) July 21, 2023

Taiwan, which on Monday started large-scale annual five-day military drills, canceled plans to use Fengnian airport on the east of the island due to safety concerns, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The air force had planned to use the civilian airport for takeoff and landing drills for the first time.

The typhoon is being watched closely in case it affects Taiwan’s largest LNG import terminal, Yung-An, or key oil refineries. The island is also home to plants making some of the world’s most advanced computer chips, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said it’s undertaking routine precautions to avoid disruptions.

China’s National Meteorological Center has issued a yellow alert for Doksuri, the second lowest alert in its four-tier system, while the Hong Kong Observatory said it will raise the lowest typhoon warning signal on Wednesday.

A weakening trend is only expected after the super typhoon hits Luzon and Taiwan and makes landfall over China’s landmass, the Philippines’ Pagasa said.

𝐀𝐓𝐌: Patuloy na binabantayan ng mga @coastguardph personnel ang sitwasyon sa Port of Romblon sa kasagsagan ng Super Typhoon #EgayPH ngayong araw, ika-25 ng Hulyo 2023.
Sa video na ito, matutunghayan ang malakas na hangin at malalaking alon dulot ng sama ng panahon.
### pic.twitter.com/TXPqT0xQbX
— Philippine Coast Guard (@coastguardph) July 25, 2023

The Philippines is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world. About 20 cyclones pass through the Southeast Asian nation each year, causing deaths and damage to agriculture, homes and infrastructure.

“Hazards from this rainfall include widespread flooding and mudslides, common and deadly threats that typhoons pose in the Philippines,” AccuWeather said on its website.

In October last year, more than 100 people died from floods and landslides triggered by storm Nalgae, which displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

–With assistance from Sing Yee Ong, Olivia Tam, Dominic Lau and Andreo Calonzo.