Death toll from Typhoon Doksuri rises as storm sweeps towards China
At least six people dead in the Philippines from the storm, while Southern Taiwan shuts businesses and schools and cancels hundreds of flights amid warnings of landslides and floods as Doksuri heads towards China.
Typhoon Doksuri claimed lives and caused havoc in the Philippines and Taiwan / Photo: AFP.
The death toll from a typhoon in the northern Philippines has risen to six, official figures showed, as the storm swept towards southeastern China.
Typhoon Doksuri battered the main island of Luzon on Wednesday, toppling trees, knocking out power and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from coastal communities.
Strong winds and heavy rain pummelled the lightly populated Babuyan islands and northern provinces, triggering flooding and landslides.
A mother and her three children were killed on Wednesday morning when a landslide struck their house in Buguias municipality in the mountainous province of Benguet, local disaster official Satur Payangdo said.
Five other people in the house were rescued.
That took the death toll to six after a woman was killed by a falling coconut tree in Isabela province on Thursday and a 16-year-old boy was crushed to death by a landslide in Baguio city.
Luzon Island faces devastating loss and destruction ravaged by Typhoon Doksuri
Two of Taiwan's largest cities have shut down schools and offices on Thursday as the storm brought heavy rains and winds to the island's eastern and southern coast.
The typhoon’s centre will not hit Taiwan’s mainland, but its outlying bands will still bring stronger winds and rains on Thursday afternoon.
In the south, port city Kaohsiung and the ancient capital Tainan announced that offices and schools will be closed Thursday.
Hualien and Taitung counties in the east have also shuttered schools and offices. Kaohsuing also evacuated some 300 residents who lived in a mountainous part of the district, according to the semi-official Central News Agency.
Deadly typhoon Doksuri leaves a trail of destruction in the Philippines and Taiwan
Doksuri had been a super typhoon as it swept across the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday but weakened as it neared the Philippines.
The storm will travel through the Taiwan Strait during the day Thursday and make landfall in China's Fujian province on Friday.
While Doksuri will bypass Taiwan, heavy rains related to the typhoon led to the drowning death of a 57-year-old woman who was trapped with two others when a mountain river overflowed, the island's emergency operations centre said.
The rains also caused power outages in around 43,000 households, though most have been restored.
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